Dr. Christian Welzbacher
Freie Universität Berlin
International Summer and Winter University
(FUBiS)
Doctorate at the Art History Institute of FU Berlin with the study "The State Architecture of the Weimar Republic". The thesis received, among others, the Theodor Fischer Prize of the Central Institute for Art History. Christian successfully applied for several third-party funded projects (DFG, Gerda Henkel), curated exhibitions and organized events with major institutions (ifa, Baukunstarchiv NRW, Architektenkammern, TU Berlin, federal ministries). He writes books and articles for newspapers (FAZ, Zeit) and journals. In addition to free teaching formats such as (online)coaching or workshops, he also participates in university teaching. His focus is on architectural history and theory since 1750, art, culture and museum politics as well as state propaganda.
Current FUBiS courses:
- Berlin Architecture, Culture and City Marketing, 1750 – Present (FUBiS Term III 2025)
- March 2022 until July 2023 State Affair Architecture. From the Prussian Construction Sector Management to Imperial Construction Management 1770-1933 (Position at the Museum of Architecture at the TU Berlin)
- 2019-2022 Teheran – Tel Aviv. Experiment International Style. (Exhibition Architectural Archive North Rhine Westphalia)
- 2018-2020 The Technical School Offenbach am Main 1902-1933 (Research)
- 2010-2012 The Myth of Schinkel. Canonization and Reception of a Classic – from 1841 until present day (Research project Gerda Henkel)
- 2009-2010 The Reichskunstwart/ The Imperial Art Warden. Cultural Politics and State Propaganda in the Weimar Republic 1918-1933 (Symposium FU Berlin, Art-historical Institute, DFG/German Research Union)
- 2007-2009 Edwin Redslob (1884-1973). The Biography of an Incorrigible Idealist (Research Project, DFG/German Research Union)
- 2004-2006 Thesis Grant (Gerda Henkel)
- 2022/23
International style. Myth and Reality of Modernity. (Teheran, Tel Aviv, Dortmund, Cologne)
Seminar BA/MA Architecture from the 3rd Semester as a lecturer at the Chair GTA at TU Dortmund, 24 weekly lecture hours
- 2022
“State Affair Architecture”. Construction in Prussia 1770-1850. Seminar BA/MA Art History from the 3rd Semester, lectureship, Scientific Art Seminar TU Berlin, 24 weekly lecture hours
Others:
- 2023
Between Sustainibility and Construction Ban. Radical Architectural Concepts in the 21st Century.
One-day Seminar “Seminars on Art”, Südwestpassage Berlin, 7. Mai 2023
- 2020/21
“Sustainibility in Architecture” as Social Media Communication
Two-part strategical workshop on the use of Social Media (Online) for the employees of the Association of German Architects (Association) and the Editorial Staff of the BDA (AGA) Newspaper “Die Architekt”
- Architectural theory and history from 1750 until present day
- The relationship of architecture to politics, economy and society
- Cultural politics
- Museums, collections, provenances
- Questions of methodology, turns and critical history of science
- Transdisciplinary approaches and non-European perspectives
Three Monographs:
- Monuments of Might. A Political History of German Architecture 1920-1960. Berlin: Parthas Verlag, 2016.
- The Radical Fool of Capital. Jeremy Bentham, the “Panopticon” and the “Auto-Icon”. German Edition, Berlin: Matthes und Seitz, 2011. Italian Edition, (Il folle radicale) Macerata Liberlibri, 2016. English Edition, (The radical fool) Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2018.
- Edwin Redslob. The Biography of an Incorrigible Idealist. Berlin: Matthes und Seitz, 2009. The State Architecture of the Weimar Republic (Dissertation).
Three Papers:
- “Bauhaus” in Teheran. In: Teheran – Tel Aviv. Experiment International style. Published by Christian Welzbacher, Markus Lehrmann, and Wolfgang Sonne. Dortmund: Kerber 2022, pp. 18-33
- “Kiesler’s Berlin (1921-26). Theatre and the November Group.” In: Frederick Kiesler. Face to Face with the Avant-Garde. Published by Gerd Zillner and Peter Bogner. Basel, Berlin, Boston: Birkhäuser 2019, pp. 53-66.
- “Architectural Critique. Critical Remarks on Practice and Theory of an Inscrutable Discipline.” In: The Media of Architecture. Published by Wolfgang Sonne. Munich, Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag 2011, pp. 255-274.