INDEPENDENT ALGERIA – Art, Architecture and Ideology in the Postcolony

How have visual arts, architecture, and urban spaces reflected, critiqued, or manifested Algeria’s revolutionary ideologies since independence in 1962?

The two day workshop Independent Algeria: Art, Architecture and Ideology in the Post-Colony explores the critical intersections between visual aesthetics and political ideology in postcolonial Algeria—from nation-building challenges to Cold War geopolitics, from socialist policies to cultural Arabisation. Bringing together scholars working across disciplines, the program examines how aesthetic production became central to imagining and constructing the post-independence state.

The first day investigates the built environment and urban heritage as critical tools for nation-building, focusing on how architectural production and the management of historic urban cores functioned as sites for ideological self-representation and the materialization of state sovereignty in post-independence Algeria. The second day analyzes the development of the visual arts and the formalization of national cultural institutions as primary sites for identity construction, exploring the persistent negotiations and tensions that emerged between revolutionary state ideology and indigenous cultural resistance.

Organized by Dominique Lounès Laleg (University of Zurich), the workshop will take place in a hybrid format, accessible both online and in person in Zurich, Switzerland.