The Aesthetic of Right. How Historical Fake Feeds Populist Agendas

Abstract

Fake News as propaganda is not a novel creation by the former President of the United States (POTUS) and the use of architecture as propaganda to propel populist agendas is no different. This article will observe two case studies, Skopje 2014 implemented by the nationalist conservative party VMRO-DPMNE of Macedonia and the Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture Executive Order no. 13967 by Donald Trump, former POTUS. These Two case studies will be discussed in how architecture feeds the populist agendas through two different types of political administration. The term fake will be associated with misinformation, mistruth and through a historical sweep and comparisons. This article argues how the use of neoclassicism as an architectural style outside of its historical context coupled with the political agendas would be considered propaganda and in turn fake.

Keywords

• post-truth
• revival
• ideology
• historicism
• space and power