Oliver Elser, curator at the Deutsche Architekturmuseum, projected a slow motion picture showing the demolition of the Frankfurt AfE Tower in February 2014 on the screen of the crowded Ankersaal – unforgettable images, well chosen for creating the atmosphere for his talk on controversial brutalism. What followed was an inimitable and inspiring lecture on the architectural style that produced a great number of eye-catching, alienating and almost anonymous concrete buildings. Elser interlinked Germany, England and the USA, inter-related architectural icons like van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Wotruba, and the Smithsons. What interested 1960s architects so much in concrete? Oliver Elser is at present preparing an exhibition on this issue. One can pursue its progress via the hashtag #SOSBrutalism.