Black Reconstruction Collective: A MANIFESTING STATEMENT
THE DISCIPLINE OF ARCHITECTURE HAS CONSISTENTLY AND DELIBERATELY AVOIDED PARTICIPATION IN THIS ENDEAVOR, OPERATING IN COMPLICITY WITH REPRESSIVE ASPECTS OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM. THAT ENDS NOW. WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO ANNIHILATING THE WILLFUL BLINDERS THAT HAVE ENABLED ARCHITECTURE TO CONTINUE TO PROFESS ITS EUROCENTRISM AS A VIRTUE AND CLAIM APOLITICAL ENDS.
WE REJECT THE BOUNDARIES ESTABLISHED BY NATION STATES, CHALLENGE THE SPATIAL MANIFESTATIONS OF ANTI-BLACK RACISM, AND ENCOURAGE CREATIVE AGENCY AND LIBERATORY PRACTICES. THIS COLLECTIVE PORTAL UNITES ACTIVISTS, SCHOLARS, ARCHITECTS, ARTISTS, AND ORGANIZERS ACROSS TIME AND SPACE. WITH THIS COMMITMENT TO BLACK FREEDOM AND FUTURITY, WE DEDICATE OURSELVES TO DOING THE WORK OF DESIGNING ANOTHER WORLD THAT IS POSSIBLE, HERE, WHERE WE ARE, WITH AND FOR US.
A NATION CONSTITUTED IN CONFLICT WITH ITS OWN IDEALS WOULD NEED TO BE RECONSTRUCTED BEFORE IT COULD BE FULLY CONSTRUCTED. IT WOULD NEED TO GO TO WAR WITH ITSELF AND WIN, THEN RECONSTRUCT ITSELF DIFFERENTLY. THIS IS NOT REBUILDING BUT RECONSTRUCTING TO THE CORE OF GOVERNANCE, CITIZENSHIP, HISTORY, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF LAND. PARADOXICALLY, THE PEOPLE WHO DID THE CONSTRUCTING AND MUST NOW DO THE RECONSTRUCTING ARE LIKELY TO BE THE SAME: LABORERS IN ONE INSTANCE AND AUTHORS IN ANOTHER — DESIGNERS OF THIS NATION AND OF THEMSELVES.
THE BLACK RECONSTRUCTION COLLECTIVE COMMITS ITSELF TO CONTINUING THIS WORK OF RECONSTRUCTION IN BLACK AMERICA AND THESE UNITED STATES. WE TAKE UP THE QUESTION OF WHAT ARCHITECTURE CAN BE — NOT A TOOL FOR IMPERIALISM AND SUBJUGATION, NOT A MEANS FOR AGGRANDIZING THE SELF, BUT A VEHICLE FOR LIBERATION AND JOY.
GET YOUR COPY OF PIN–UP’S RECONSTRUCTIONS EDITION HERE
WATCH THE BRC’S M.I.T. ARCHITECTURE LECTURE HERE
The Black Reconstruction Collective (BRC) is committed to multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary work dedicated to dismantling systemic white supremacy and hegemonic whiteness within art, design, and academia.The BRC provides funding, design, and intellectual support to the ongoing and incomplete project of emancipation for the African Diaspora.
Founding members of the BRC include Emanuel Admassu, Germane Barnes, Sekou Cooke, J. Yolande Daniels, Felecia Davis, Mario Gooden, Walter Hood, Olalekan Jeyifous, V. Mitch McEwen, and Amanda Williams.
The BRC Manifesting Statement was first published in PIN–UP 29, as part of RECONSTRUCTIONS, a 16-page special in partnership with Thom Browne on the occasion of Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America (February 20–May 31, 2021). Order the special edition here.
