#  New Directions in Art History: Vanessa Grossman 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **February 6, 2023** 

 06:00PM - 06:00PM EST 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **485 Broadway Lower Lecture Hall**  



 

 



 

   ![grossman poster](/sites/g/files/omnuum4426/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/history-artsarchitecture/files/poster_vanessa_grossman.v4.jpg?itok=tX_mlGq_) 

 

 **Communist Conspiracies: Party Headquarters Architecture and Aggiornamento in Paris, 1965–1980**

 Vanessa Grossman

 On the eve of May 1968, the apparently monolithic character of the French Communist Party (PCF), which ran the risk of seeming authoritarian or totalitarian, was aesthetically mitigated by the idea of architecture as a mirror. This metaphor was well suited to the dualistic, dialectical, and split Cold War mentality, which gradually gave way to an internal scission between the PCF’s hardline cold warriors and the vanguard who favored a thaw and *aggiornamento* (updating). This lecture will examine the commissioning of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer for the design of the new PCF headquarters in Paris (1965–1980), the iconic concrete-and-mirrored-glass building that came to represent this aggiornamento.

 Vanessa Grossman is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology.

 Image caption:

 Oscar Niemeyer, headquarters of the French Communist Party (1965–1980), photograph by Ciro Miguel, 2021.



 

 



 

 See also:- [ HAA Events ](/event-type/general)
 
 

 Share on:- [     Facebook ](#)
- [     Twitter ](#)
- [     Linkedin ](#)
 


 Save: [ Add to calendar calendar\_today ](https://haa.fas.harvard.edu/node/1456991/event-feed.ics)  Copy link link