Paulo Tavares is a Brazilian architect, researcher, and writer, whose work explores the intersections of architecture, visual culture, and advocacy. His practice critically examines the colonial legacies embedded within modernity, focusing on themes such as environmental reparation, Indigenous rights, and the socio-political dimensions of space and design.

Active on the ground, within academia, and across curatorial platforms, he approaches architecture as an advocacy-based praxis. A long-term collaborator with Forensic Architecture, he critically utilizes—and subverts—architectural tools and data to address issues relating to the rights of both humans and non-humans. He is particularly interested in what escapes the state’s logic of language, law, and control—what remains and resurfaces as a space for re-telling histories and reclaiming suppressed narratives.

In this podcast, we ask Paulo Tavares to respond to Audre Lorde’s enduring question: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” Drawing on examples from projects such as Trees, Vines, Palms and Other Architectural Monuments, and reflecting on what he calls “a moment of shift” in today’s political climate, Paulo develops his notion of “critical proximity” as well as his understanding of architecture as a political field. We also interrogate ourselves about the politics of narrative, while tackling epistemic deficiencies.

Image credit: Paulo Tavares, “An Architectural Botany”, 2018-2023.

Listen via Radio Web MACBA.