VIENNA, Social Architecture and the Legacy of Red Vienna (Lecture 2)

Lecture by Sasha Pirker

Beyond the Façade, Architecture and the Social through the Lens of Filmmaker Sasha Pirker

How can film alter the way we perceive and understand architecture? What becomes perceptible when
the built environment is considered not merely as form or object, but as a site of human relations,
histories, memories and social structures?
Artist and filmmaker Sasha Pirker works at the intersection of film, art and architectural history. Her
practice is distinguished by formal precision and conceptual clarity, combined with a subtle use of humour
and irony. Rather than treating buildings as autonomous objects, she approaches them as carriers of
stories, attitudes and atmospheres, as frameworks in which individual and collective experience unfold.
Her films often operate through carefully composed fragments, shifts in perspective and the interplay of
presence and absence. In The Face, for instance, the façade of a building is placed in conceptual
dialogue with the human face. By fragmenting the building and concealing the faces of passers-by, Pirker
questions conventional forms of recognition and representation, opening up a reflection on identity,
perception and the relationship between people and their surroundings.
For the lecture at the Architectuur Instituut Hasselt, Pirker will present and discuss a selection of films
engaging with buildings, interiors and urban environments. The screening offers an insight into her artistic
approach while inviting us to consider how cinematic means can reveal dimensions of the built world that
remain invisible in conventional architectural representation.
The lecture will be conceived as a shared act of looking and reflection. Following the films, Pirker will
discuss her methods and the questions underlying her work, with space for an open conversation with the
audience.

bio
Sasha Pirker (*1969, Austria) studied Linguistics and Architecture in Vienna and Paris and has taught
film, video and art at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna since 2006. Her work has been presented
internationally, including at the Centre Pompidou, Anthology Film Archives in New York and the Venice
Film Festival.

Filmstill: Sasha Pirker, geweswen sein
wird, 2022

For whom?

• PhD students and postdocs

When and where?

• The lecture will take place on October 13, 2026 - 12:00-14:00
• Kapittelzaal H2/1.04

Registration?

• xxx