Queering a Fascist Heritage

Abstract: In this thesis I have tried to understand this great complexity in architecture, when an oppressive architecture can be considered an architectural masterpiece. This conflict is embodied by Palazzo della Civiltà. Italiana. A monument built with the intentions to host an exhibition celebrating 20 years of fascism, is now 80 years later, rented by the luxury fashion house Fendi due to its mesmerizing aesthetic design. As a way of approaching this conflict, I have explored if it is possible to use art, not only as a tool for making architecture, but perhaps it also could be tool for generating a critical discussion about architecture and its complex hybridity. To discuss the hybridity of architecture I am influenced by queer theory and its insistance upon acknowleging the neglected.1 In the search for an intersectional and critical process, I have explored architecture through theory studies and experimental practices, such as art installations, imaginative interventions and objects. In my explorations my aim has been to discuss the invisible by bringing it out of the already built form. By elaborating on two main questions: when does architecture become fascist and is it possible to demonstrate the fascist legacy by manipulating its architecture?