Günter Gassner
Biographic Data
| ID | 254838 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Günter Gassner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Günter |
| FAMILY NAME | Gassner |
| SIGNATURE | GASSNER G |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cardiff University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5891-6228 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 8 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Recognition theory, political agency and intersubjective institutions
Austerity remains a critical feature of contemporary urban politics and governance. Yet there is scope in studies of austerity and related forms of resistance, and urban governance more generally, for greater conceptualisation of why and how human political agency develops, and their interwoven relationship with broader societal institutions. Axel Honneth’s (1995, 2012, 2014, 2016) recognition theory is utilised for the examination of how collect…
Drawing a 'revolutionary we
This paper explores drawing as a queer antifascist praxis. Discussing 'who' comes together through the line drawings that were included in the Gay Liberation Front's (GLF) main newspaper Come Together in the 1970s, I explore how drawing can construct a 'we' as a group agent. Based on distinctions that the GLF drew between revolution and liberal reform, and between universal liberation and identity politics, drawing as a liberatory praxis constitu…
Spiral movement
How to move against the rise of the far-right and seemingly unstoppable autocratic leaders in many Western liberal democracies? Antifascism's interest in the built environment is often limited to the collection of address data of right-wing extremists with the aim of locating its enemies. In this piece, I write with fascism and violence through vignettes of urban situatedness. I adopt an eclectic approach, engaging with diverse theories of violen…
Materiality, Race, and Speculative Aesthetics
The papers in this forum on Spaces and Politics of Aesthetics share a concern with analyzing relationships between politics and aesthetics in ways that question humanist, anthropocentric logics underpinning dominant aesthetic regimes of power. They do so by foregrounding more-than-human materialities and critical analyses of race and colonial power. In this introduction, we begin by routing debates around spaces and politics of aesthetics through…
Drawing as an Ethico-political Practice
This essay explores drawing as an ethico-political practice. Taking London as an example, I speculate about a critical and creative, radical and imaginative engagement with speculative urbanization processes at a time when the extreme right is on the rise and the populist far right has become increasingly mainstream. Reflecting on a nonrepresentational drawing approach that responds to distantiated expert eyes by breaking free from their knowledg…
Aestheticizing the beautiful city
This article explores design debates through a radical political lens. Examining ways in which architects, urban historians and townscape consultants view speculative office developments and profit-driven building height in the City of London, I argue for the democratization of the cityscape. I contest the prevalence of the consensual city-image in which towers are framed as structures that visual enhance historic landmarks and buildings of 'civi…
Wrecking London’s skyline
How can we develop a political critique of urban form at the time of a tall building boom? Pointing to limitations of interpreting towers as representations of finance and power, I introduce an understanding of skylines as phantasmagoria of capitalist culture: a dazzling image that abstracts from the commodified urban landscape by promoting its further commodification. I show that both professionals who argue for and those who argue against the c…
Visual consequences of the plan
Wrecking London’s skyline
How can we develop a political critique of urban form at the time of a tall building boom? Pointing to limitations of interpreting towers as representations of finance and power, I introduce an understanding of skylines as phantasmagoria of capitalist culture: a dazzling image that abstracts from the commodified urban landscape by promoting its further commodification. I show that both professionals who argue for and those who argue against the c…
Spiral movement
How to move against the rise of the far-right and seemingly unstoppable autocratic leaders in many Western liberal democracies? Antifascism's interest in the built environment is often limited to the collection of address data of right-wing extremists with the aim of locating its enemies. In this piece, I write with fascism and violence through vignettes of urban situatedness. I adopt an eclectic approach, engaging with diverse theories of violen…
Materiality, Race, and Speculative Aesthetics
The papers in this forum on Spaces and Politics of Aesthetics share a concern with analyzing relationships between politics and aesthetics in ways that question humanist, anthropocentric logics underpinning dominant aesthetic regimes of power. They do so by foregrounding more-than-human materialities and critical analyses of race and colonial power. In this introduction, we begin by routing debates around spaces and politics of aesthetics through…
Drawing as an Ethico-political Practice
This essay explores drawing as an ethico-political practice. Taking London as an example, I speculate about a critical and creative, radical and imaginative engagement with speculative urbanization processes at a time when the extreme right is on the rise and the populist far right has become increasingly mainstream. Reflecting on a nonrepresentational drawing approach that responds to distantiated expert eyes by breaking free from their knowledg…
Aestheticizing the beautiful city
This article explores design debates through a radical political lens. Examining ways in which architects, urban historians and townscape consultants view speculative office developments and profit-driven building height in the City of London, I argue for the democratization of the cityscape. I contest the prevalence of the consensual city-image in which towers are framed as structures that visual enhance historic landmarks and buildings of 'civi…
Visual consequences of the plan
Wrecking London’s skyline
How can we develop a political critique of urban form at the time of a tall building boom? Pointing to limitations of interpreting towers as representations of finance and power, I introduce an understanding of skylines as phantasmagoria of capitalist culture: a dazzling image that abstracts from the commodified urban landscape by promoting its further commodification. I show that both professionals who argue for and those who argue against the c…
Materiality, Race, and Speculative Aesthetics
The papers in this forum on Spaces and Politics of Aesthetics share a concern with analyzing relationships between politics and aesthetics in ways that question humanist, anthropocentric logics underpinning dominant aesthetic regimes of power. They do so by foregrounding more-than-human materialities and critical analyses of race and colonial power. In this introduction, we begin by routing debates around spaces and politics of aesthetics through…
Drawing as an Ethico-political Practice
This essay explores drawing as an ethico-political practice. Taking London as an example, I speculate about a critical and creative, radical and imaginative engagement with speculative urbanization processes at a time when the extreme right is on the rise and the populist far right has become increasingly mainstream. Reflecting on a nonrepresentational drawing approach that responds to distantiated expert eyes by breaking free from their knowledg…
Aestheticizing the beautiful city
This article explores design debates through a radical political lens. Examining ways in which architects, urban historians and townscape consultants view speculative office developments and profit-driven building height in the City of London, I argue for the democratization of the cityscape. I contest the prevalence of the consensual city-image in which towers are framed as structures that visual enhance historic landmarks and buildings of 'civi…
Spiral movement
How to move against the rise of the far-right and seemingly unstoppable autocratic leaders in many Western liberal democracies? Antifascism's interest in the built environment is often limited to the collection of address data of right-wing extremists with the aim of locating its enemies. In this piece, I write with fascism and violence through vignettes of urban situatedness. I adopt an eclectic approach, engaging with diverse theories of violen…
Drawing a 'revolutionary we
This paper explores drawing as a queer antifascist praxis. Discussing 'who' comes together through the line drawings that were included in the Gay Liberation Front's (GLF) main newspaper Come Together in the 1970s, I explore how drawing can construct a 'we' as a group agent. Based on distinctions that the GLF drew between revolution and liberal reform, and between universal liberation and identity politics, drawing as a liberatory praxis constitu…
Recognition theory, political agency and intersubjective institutions
Austerity remains a critical feature of contemporary urban politics and governance. Yet there is scope in studies of austerity and related forms of resistance, and urban governance more generally, for greater conceptualisation of why and how human political agency develops, and their interwoven relationship with broader societal institutions. Axel Honneth’s (1995, 2012, 2014, 2016) recognition theory is utilised for the examination of how collect…
Sociology (7 works) · Political science (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Aesthetics (5 works) · Art (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Visual arts (4 works) · Cityscape (3 works) · History (3 works)