A conversation with Hélène—of sorts.

“Sugar and spice and all things nice. That’s what little girls are made of.” No doubt, the theory of the girl needs some reclaiming, for girls can be dirty, and not very nice—and why should they be deprived of these dubious traits? You dirty slut.

In May 2024, the Danish architecture duo iOM! (Anne Bea and Stine Dines) invited spacegirls to participate in the exhibition Bjærg!, held at HUS8000, a former scooter shop in Århus, Denmark. spacegirls’ contribution to the exhibition was deeply influenced by Hélène Frichot’s Dirty Theory and took the form of a text, installed within the exhibition space itself. The piece was titled Portrait of the Architect as a Young Girl.

“Who voices the dirty ditty, if not the theory slut? Smutty, dirty slut. Perhaps the theory slut can even offer some tips on citational practices, because she is nothing if not promiscuous in her looting of concepts and other appropriations. Her search for concept-tools takes her here and there, crossing boundaries, paying no heed to the warning signs at the limits of disciplinary domains.”

The text was a wild and strange remix of references and citations—from Frichot to Spice Girls, via Jennifer Bloomer, Tiqqun, McKenzie Wark, and Kathy Acker. It explored the concept of the architect—not as a woman, but as a girl: a dubious, dirty girl architect breaking free from the rigid grasp of modernism in search of a collective, non-extractive, and, above all, more fun way to practice.

“The dirty theorist follows the materials, tracks the soiled effluent, observing from where it came and the direction that it appears to be taking.”

A rough translation of the Danish word “bjærg” would be “salvage.” The exhibition focused on experimenting with and valuing what already exists. Each participant—Gruppe-AJA, Ester Alemayehu Hatle, Spacegirls, and Urszula Kozminska—brought their own unique, “dirty” perspective to the material-focused theme.

“There is nothing respectable about dirty theory. It seeks out approaches and plots trajectories from a position close to the ground. We must move past our disgust to work with the dirt. This is an imperative for coping with our dusty, dirty, defiled world. To think with it—not against it.”

The architectural profession seems to be in a dire state these days, and I must admit, there are times when I feel tempted to leave it all behind. I think I was particularly close the day i bumped into Hélène in the library. In the midst of my despair, she tapped me on the shoulder and whispered softly in my ear – “psst girlie – with it – not against it – it’s time to get to work!”

portrait photo: © Marian Strand