Observation III
Does Architecture Dream of Upheaval? — Part III
Common ground
noun
an agreed basis, accepted by both or all parties, for identifying issues in an argument/Collins English Dictionary
The 2012 Venice Biennale curated by David Chipperfield suggested the theme of “Common Ground”, an interest emerging out of resonance from and with the past. Chair Paolo Baratta suggested to try
“built architecture, from full scale reconstructions of existing buildings to the emerge from intricate balances of structural forces; from the materialization of the concept of architectural and cultural heritage as a basis « for the search for and construction of new realities»” [27]
SIDE A
To ground the experience of the 2012 Venice Biennale curated by David Chipperfield, images from Bernard Tschumi’s Advertisement for Architecture was used as its preface: a series presenting a juxtaposition of an approved architecture and a formalistic approach in built reality. “There is no way to perform architecture in a book.” Tschumi writes, “Words and drawings can only produce paper space, not the experience of real space. By definition, paper space is imaginary: it is an image” [28] Staging the imaginary world is what media is founded upon and architecture has always presented itself through publicity. In fact, it has never been out of what concerns publicity. As backdrops to events, expected or unexpected, architecture is being seen and means to be seen. Publicity is a common ground, where everyone finds something worth to believe in. Unlike the postcards from 1966, the preface of the 2012 Biennale solely focused on one question: is it the form that makes architecture, or is it the architecture that makes its form?
In the age where iconic architecture pierces from the ground to the sky with enormous speed achieved by technological advancement, what shall the audience look at: the so-called star architect, the iconic, or mere architectural ego? What is the common ground? Is the common ground “designing for the public”?
“Do not simply respect others, but offer them a common struggle, since our most pressing problems today are problems we have in common.” [29]
- Slavoj Žižek
Of course it is impossible to please all by designing for the public. Shortly after the launch of the event, Wolf D. Prix criticized that the 2012 exhibition “Common Ground” as completely banal: “This event is an expensive Danse macabre. In a city of plunder (an exhibition of plunder) hordes of tourists (architects) roll along broken infrastructure in order to satisfy their petit bourgeois desire for education (in the case of the architects: vanity, envy, schadenfreude, suspicions). Even the glamour that the visitors are supposed to feel is staid and faked by the media for whom a star architect is like a film star.”[30] Interestingly the desire that is fulfilled by untruthful media draws a fine line with Tschumi’s advertisement underlining “imaginary” and “image”. “Common Ground” satisfies every single criterion that pleases its visitors: the concerns of preservation and sustainability, resonance of history, and reflections on cultural heritages, all romanticized by the participation of the so-called star-architects and their iconic visions.
In reacting to Prix’s criticism, curator Chipperfield initiated a similarly rhetoric debate according to Archdaily, “with a world plagued by the current economic crisis, David Chipperfield fears that the architects’ role is shrinking and the professions ability to influence the shape of our cities is diminishing.” He blames the politicians that solely favours results: “A museum gets built and all of a sudden they’re interested in it — not because it’s a museum but because they can sell it as part of a regeneration program.” As quoted from Tschumi, architecture is what it does. It is a the world dominated by publicity and media is an instrument to draw another social image. It is a regeneration program, it is a petit bourgeois desire, it is what it looks like. In addition to commenting on politicians, Chipperfield criticized the media for “sidelining architecture in the lifestyle pages.” [31]
SIDE B
In contrast to the “star-filled” events like the Venice Biennale, unsolicited architecture seems to grab on to the idea of “common ground” tighter than the “star-architects” under the spotlight. The simplicity and elegantly reduced ideas of pavilion architecture allows the spontaneous injection of positive urban action.
In 2010, DUS Architects hosted an unsolicited dance party on the street of Rotterdam. “The Bucky Bar” as they called it, utilized usual daily objects — umbrellas as material to construct a dome structure that became the heart of a spontaneous event on a winter night. The umbrellas attached to each other to become a big shelter. The party came alive at 10 pm and lasted a few hours before the police came in to terminate the unsolicited event. Similarly unsolicited, even announced illegal by the government of P.R.C., the 2014 “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Hong (formally Occupy Central) also attempted to create a better future with joint effort. With such spontaneous gathering, student protests and demonstrations have originated near the MTR stations of Central and Admiralty located in Hong Kong Island. The event has gained support from citizens of Hong Kong on the fight for democracy, transparency in publicity and education. The Occupy Central with Love and Peace demonstration started on September 27th 2014 after nearly one year of planning and small-scale protests. On September 28th 2014, the police launched 87 tear-gases attacks in attempts to evict the demonstrators from the area which brought the event to a climax. [32] The conflict between the government forces and protesting citizens of Hong Kong had then risen to a new height.
Image Source:Xaume OllerosG
Depicted by mass media, the image of a pro-democracy protester standing in front of the Hong Kong Legislative Council building is portrayed resembling “The Tank Man” recalling 1989 Tiananmen Square tragedy. The figure holding an umbrella as a means of protection quickly became the symbol of the Occupy Central with Love and Peace demonstration. The tear-gas “attacks” from the police quickly triggered anger among students and workers of different field. Since then, the area of the demonstration has spread to other major business districts including Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, and Chai Wan. Many protesters have chosen to hold umbrellas, wear masks and goggles not only to protect themselves from tear-gas and pepper spray, but to show support and respect to the pro-democracy activists. The image of umbrellas covering streets quickly gained popularity in the advertisement industry and social media network, causing the exponential exposure of Occupy Central on publicity. The increasingly populated event also impacted and paralyzed the affected areas influencing local businesses, daily commute, and other soft infrastructures of Hong Kong.
Let us return to the “Bucky Bar” of DUS Architects, which showcased the power of using umbrellas, a common daily object, as the replicating units for a spontaneous architectural pavilion for an unsolicited event. Although ending with the disruption of the police officials, the event was described as fun, enjoyable and positive. “The title refers to the great American inventor, Buckminster Fuller, who demonstrated how minimal energy geodesic domes could open a way to a more environmentally sustainable future.” As they noted on their website, “The Bucky Bar is a full-scale model of such a future. It shows the power of space for spontaneous gathering, for improvised shelters to host conversations, debates, games or even parties.” [33]
Hong Kong took an alternative approach: by conducting spontaneous gatherings, conversations, debates, and demonstrations to fight for democracy, the people come together to express a common longing. The image of an umbrella as a means of support and protection quickly multiplied into thousands of umbrellas forming one single entity, spreading through the entire street with an “umbrella roof” supported by activists longing for change. The completely self-generated “umbrella roof” in Hong Kong that never intended to carry any architectural value has a shared common goal with “the Bucky Bar”: to promote social improvement through uniting the tiniest units that make up our world.
These upheavals, demonstrations, and protests are reactions to the social, political, and economic realm. The initiators have a longing for certain goals, and through actions although violently portrayed, they claim their will. These are often associated with abandoning old ideas to make space for the new to change. In contrary, architecture has become more and more of a perfectly preserved urban artifact. It has become a slave of the global economy.
On December 11, 2014 the demonstration “Occupy Central” reached a conclusion followed by the closing of associated websites. The movement started by mocking the famous Occupy Wall Street ended with a symbol of umbrella and the unofficial name: “Umbrella Revolution”. Although the activists failed to improve political freedom, the movement has been a powerful expression reaching for a common goal: democracy. The protest field thus becomes the common ground where the tiniest particles of the society speculate a possible change in the future. In reverse, if taking the world and unfolding the globe as Buckminister Fuller did himself, the whole world fits on one page — we are all connected.
PLEASE, TAKE
A RADICAL
BREAK >>
Next >> Dangerous Dreams of Somerset House
27. “13th International Architecture Exhibition” , La Biennale. http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/archive/13th-exhibition/13iae/
28. “Designboom, Bernard Tschumi: advertisements for architecture” accessed September 27, 2014, created August 28, 2012 http://www.designboom.com/architecture/bernard-tschumi-ads-for-architecture-2012-at-venice-biennale/
29. Žižek, Slavoj. The Year of Dreaming Dangerously. pg 46 London: Verso, 2012. Print.
30. “‘Venice Architecture Biennale is exhausting bleak and boring’ says Wolf D. Prix” , Dezeen, date published 30 August 2012. date accessed November 17 2014http://www.dezeen.com/2012/08/30/venice-architecture-biennale-is-exhausting-bleak-and-boring-says-wolf-d-prix
31. “David Chipperfield Deplores the “Impotence” of Contemporary Architecture at the London Design Festival” , BlouinArtinfo, date published September 25, 2012, date accessed December 4, 2014.
32. “Umbrella Revolution Explained”, Yahoo, http://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric-now-i-get-it-umbrella-revolution-175949877.html
33. Bucky Bar, DUS Architects, http://www.dusarchitects.com/projects.php?categorieid=publicbuildings&projectid=buckybar
