On the End of Authority : Interview with Peter Eisenman

Abstract

Interview with Peter Eisenman

Since writing his PhD thesis at Cambridge until today, Peter Eisenman has thematized “End” several times, which is why he was the logical choice to be the editor of this issue of Khōrein. Initially, he agreed to this without hesitation, which would have made this his de facto ‘fourth stadium’ of reflecting on “End” (although certainly not the last, as he feared). However, in conversation with the editorial team of Khōrein, his role and contribution to this issue changed. We can say that we attempted to imitate in one way or another his possible activity of editing an issue, evoking texts on ‘End’ from the eighties (“The End of the Classical”) or his variations on “End” from 2016 (The End of Authority... Theory or End of Author). There is probably no position on “End” among architects and philosophers that has not been influenced by Eisenman’s thinking on the matter. 
The interview before you sat ready on Eisenman’s desk at Eisenman Architects Office (450 Seventh Ave); he provided us with a copy in the spring of 2017, and then he reworked and edited it for publication in Khōrein late last year, removing some answers that we nevertheless found interesting. We do not know who conducted the interview, nor whether it is a transcript of questions and responses from one or more of the lectures Eisenman gave in 2016 across architecture departments (the most famous of which was at Princeton, entitled “The End of Authority,” held on September 19, 2016). Finally, this interview has nothing to do with the interview entitled “The End of Authority: Peter Eisenman with Julian Rose,” published in 2020.