Rusty Bernstein Memorial Lecture

Thursday 22 October

18h30 for 19h00

Dorothy Susskind Auditorium, John Moffat Building

Cheese and wine will be served beforehand

Open Invitation

Memorial lecture: This annual lecture commemorates Rusty (Lionel) Bernstein who was born in Durban in 1920. After matriculating, he returned to Johannesburg where he started work at an architect’s office, while studying architecture part-time at the University of the Witwatersrand. After qualifying in 1936, he worked full-time as an architect. He became politically active and joined the Communist Party. Over the next quarter century, he wrote extensively for a number of journals, including ‘Liberation’ and the South African newspaper ‘The Guardian’.

This carried the same message as his other writings; that South Africa was approaching its last chance to make a peaceful transition to democracy. In 1950, the Communist Party was banned. He was prominent in forming the Congress of Democrats, an organisation for whites that would co-operate with the African National Congress, which at that time was restricted to black membership only. Rusty played a major part on the committee organising the ‘Congress of the People’, working closely with Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo.

His written words became a rallying call for those struggling for national liberation from that time on; "Let Us Speak of Freedom. South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white." At the end of 1956, Rusty and 150 others were arrested and charged with treason in what became known as the ‘Rivonia Trial’. At the end of the trial, Rusty was found not guilty and was discharged.

He and his wife Hilda faced further arrest and eventually made their way to England. Rusty worked as an architect in London. Despite leaving the country of his birth, he continued to work tirelessly for the abolition of apartheid. In 1998, both Rusty and Hilda were awarded honorary degrees from the University of Natal for their role in helping to bring democracy to South Africa.

This followed the publication of Rusty’s acclaimed personal account of the unwritten history of South African politics between 1938 and 1964, ‘Memory Against Forgetting’. Rusty Bernstein died at his home on June 23rd 2002, aged 82. The School celebrates the legacy of architect Rusty Bernstein through its annual lecture, intended to promote debate on the intersections between architecture, city planning and social transformation in South Africa and elsewhere.  

Previous speakers: Justice Arthur Chaskelson, Namdi Elleh (Cincinatti, USA), John Forester (Cornell, USA), Nathan Edelson (City of Vancouver)

Distinguished speaker: Jean-Louis Cohen

(New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts)

Host- Professor Loyiso Nongxa, Vice Chancellor

Programme director – Alan Mabin

Introduction – Architect, Clive Chipkin

Distinguished speaker: Jean Louis Cohen holds the Sheldon H. Solow Chair for the History of Architecture at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. His research focuses on twentieth-century architecture and urban planning and the work of Le Corbusier.

He is the author of numerous publications, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (2007), Casablanca: Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures (with Monique Eleb, 2002), Scenes of the World to Come: European Architecture and the American Challenge, 1893-1960(1995), and Le Corbusier and the Mystique of the USSR, Theories and Projects for Moscow, 1928-1936 (1992).

Jean-Louis Cohen holds the Sheldon H. Solow Chair for the History of Architecture at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. His research focuses on twentieth-century architecture and urban planning and the work of Le Corbusier. He is the author of numerous publications, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (2007), Casablanca: Colonial Myths and Architectural Ventures (with Monique Eleb, 2002), Scenes of the World to Come: European Architecture and the American Challenge, 1893-1960 (1995), and Le Corbusier and the Mystique of the USSR, Theories and Projects for Moscow, 1928-1936 (1992).