Eyal Weizman

A questionnaire on materialisms

Recent philosophical tendencies of “Actor-Network Theory,” “Object-Oriented Ontology,” and “Speculative Realism” have profoundly challenged the centrality of subjectivity in the humanities, and many artists and curators, particularly in the UK, Germany, and the United States, appear deeply influenced by this shift from epistemology to ontology. October editors asked artists, historians, and philosophers invested in these projects—from Graham Harman and Alexander R. Galloway to Armen Avanessian and Patricia Falguières to Ed Atkins and Amie Siegel—to explore what the rewards and risks of assigning agency to objects may be, and how, or if, such new materialisms can be productive for making and thinking about art today.

Architecture, Violence, Evidence

Architect Eyal Weizman and historian Andrew Herscher discuss their research on architecture as a target of political violence and the consequent interpretation(s) of architectural destruction in international law. The act of destruction fundamentally transforms the meaning of a building, and often architecture only acquires significance at the very moment of its destruction. Their discussion reveals the complexity of meaning surrounding architecture as both victim and witness, and challenges the too-frequent assumption that buildings only ever serve as static symbols of identity.

Occupation in Space and Time

TWO ISRAELI ARCHITECTS CREATED AN EXHIBITION OF MAPS AND PHOTOS SHOWING THE LINK BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL DESIGN OF JEWISH SETTLEMENTS AND THE POLITICAL MOTIVES BEHIND THEIR CONSTRUCTION. ITS SPONSORS SHUT IT DOWN