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1Digital technologies have challenged our traditional making and understanding
of architectural space. Our modern cities have become transformed by the electronic
apparatus, as town centers and gateways cease to carry the typical meaning with which we
associate them. One might posture that the idea of place can no longer suggest a singular
and unique phenomenon. In an electronic age, how might artificial worlds and new
technologies begin to re-construct ideas of place? PLACE
2The idea of
place as relating to a specific moment in time and space is increasingly becoming a
difficult concept. "Place" recalls a historical situation, a site with physical,
cultural and social boundaries, a physical "center" bound by matter within an
instance of time. Place is grounded in materiality. The introduction of electronic and
other disembodied technologies such as cellular telephones, fax machines, computing
technologies and the virtual communities which they foster have begun to break down the
significance of the physical realm. Does the new electronic world strip the significance
of our physical realm, or might digital technologies contribute to a heightening of
physical space and a greater understanding of place?
3The
photographs of New York artist Jocko Weyland explore a collapse of physical distance, as
visions of vanishing identity are framed to reveal a viewpoint from which all cities begin
to become one.1
These photographs express the homogenization of place as the city and its inhabitants are
neutralized by consumer culture; Welcome to Coca-Cola, Bienvenue Calvin Klein.
4The averaging
of cities brought about by technological advance and commercialism has affected not only
the physical make-up and understanding of the city, but our self-identification as well;
the blurring of physical boundaries alters our collective consciousness. Cultural and
Political change creates a constant state of flux: countries divide, boundary lines
change, places are reborn. The Argentinean artist Guillermo Kuitca maps the ambiguity of
place onto the intimate space of the individual through a superimposition of altered city
maps onto mattresses.2 In his Burning Beds series, both physical distance and cultural identity are
reconfigured, as fictional cities replace real ones. In one painting, a city called San
Juan de la Cruz arbitrarily replaces all of the major cities of Poland.3
5Nancy
Bursons conceptual photo works explore a similar theme of identity and
transfiguration, as is exemplified through her digital compositing of faces.4 Beauty as represented through
a law of averages is depicted within a comparison of 1950s and 1980s ideal
beauty standards: a composite model of Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Sophia
Loren is compared to the morphing of Jane Fonda, Jacqueline Bisset, Diane Keaton, Brooke
Shields and Meryl Streep. Bursons faces also raise important cultural identification
issues, as in Three Major Races, where a composite face is brought about through the
morphing of the three dominant races of the world: Asian, Caucasian and Black.
6Bursons
photos question the new ambiguity of the original work of art as described by Walter
Benjamin in "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." 5 How does the original work of art,
which is born within a specific context of time and place change in a world in which the
digital image proliferates? As the masterpiece and grand master become outmoded concepts,
the clone, morph and copy recreate the concept of originality.
ORIGINAL
7Artist Sherrie
Levine investigates the validity of the original work of art through the creation of
series of works after other artists, in which she seemingly removes her hand from the work
in order to pose important questions: Does re-photographing original photographs made by
other artists count as an original work of art itself? Does re-drawing or
"copying" a masterpiece painting count also as an original? The authenticity of
the copy begins to challenge the possibility of the concept of the original itself.
Levines work begins to posit questions which will become increasingly necessary and
relevant in an increasingly digital age6.
8Loss of
identity, coupled with the need for authenticity has helped to create false
"original" histories across the American landscape. Americas chronic
nostalgia or "homesickness" has fueled many of the so-called "modern"
references to past Americana within housing and new city planning. Disneys pervasive
success in recreating a fictional American narrative is perhaps the best example of this
phenomenon.7 Walt
Disney was perceptive in his forecast of the American desire for identity in a country
which is increasingly fragmented and dispersed. One might speculate upon Disneys
plans for Cyber Space were he still alive today. The Disney Corporations plans for
the future do include virtual reality adventures and simulated experiences, and were
certain to encounter Disney Worlds on the web.
9Disney Land
and Disney World are symptomatic of the desire for authenticity and place in American
culture.8 In
Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas revels in the relocation of the London Bridge to an
artificial lake in Arizona.9 The relocation of fragments of the Berlin Wall to small towns across America
also depicts a commodification of history and place. A piece of The Wall resides in the
library of Capital University, a small school in Columbus Ohio. One might also consider
the re-construction of the Barcelona Pavilion as another attempt to represent a moment of
the past, an architectural masterpiece recreated on its original site. Is the recreation
"just a copy"? Modern photographs of the Barcelona Pavilion are taken from the
vantage points of historical photos of the original structure. Perhaps over time
generations of architecture students will embrace this icon as an original.
PROTOTYPE
10Not only do
artificial worlds and computing technology challenge the interpretation of place and
originality within the context of globalization, they suggest that we design differently
for a global, reproducible culture. Ever since the proliferation of mechanical
reproduction, every day objects and structures have been mass produced. The mass
production of buildings and their parts still carries negative connotations in Western
culture, perhaps by association with low class housing and fast food mega-chains. Western
culture has a nostalgia for history, for the concept of the "original". Could
the prototype set the ground for a new concept of originality, by suggesting the
possibility of endless originals, none the same based upon specific siting and
programmatic requirement?
11A recent architectural investigation into the nature of place is formulated
within Herzog & de Meurons Olivetti Bank project.10 In this theoretical project, the
problem of a prototypical bank is used to speculate upon the image of a modern banking
structure. In the study, a prototype is formed of basic programmatic elements that
contribute to an identifiable image of the bank: a bar of gold is associated with
electronic banking functions; a bar of lead suggests more permanent and stable areas of
the bank. These elements are reconfigured and inserted into the fabric of several
different cities in Japan, Germany and other countries. The significance of the Olivetti
project lies within the possibility of a potential personalization of the prototype when
adapted to a specific site or place; the concept of a flexible prototype which does not
carry a proper or preferred combination of parts. The prototype may always be reconfigured
while retaining an identifiable image.
12A similar approach to the prototype is followed within a project by G-Tects
entitled Residual Urban Site Strategies which was recently exhibited at Store Front for
Art and Architecture in New York.11 This project proposes a series of prototypical interventions into thin,
"uninhabitable" spaces of the city, in an attempt to utilize various residual
sites within Manhattans Lower East Side. The architecture of the RUSS prototype is
formulated to explore an architecture of surface, in response to our changing perception
of space as influenced by contemporary bias to visual stimuli. This visual bias sets the
framework for the reconsideration of the measure of architectural space: bodily experience
is replaced by the dominance of vision. The marriage of residual site to vision-enabled
prototype offers the first potential virtual housing prototype for the city of New York.
13A
Temporary Building in Wall Street challenges the traditional representation of
architectural space in relation to an evolving electronic culture.12 Wall Street, the location of the
original fortification wall of New Amsterdam (New York), is now the center of electronic
exchange. This modern day "center" represents the paradox of our modern cities:
A physical place may be defined by an abstraction of virtual meetings. In Delirious New
York, Rem Koolhaas describes the history of New York as a transformation from a natural
landscape inhabited by Native Americans into that of the Dutch dominated ideal. The
superimposition of a man-made grid upon the landscape represented the "Dutch instinct
for order" and a fortification wall for New Amsterdam was erected to "keep the
Indians out"13 .
As Manhattan eventually expanded and transformed according to various circumstance, the
boundary or barrier known as Wall Street became a thoroughfare, a channel of
communication, a global center of information exchange. Wall Street as we know it today: a
place defined by flows of economy, electronics and speed; a place which is at once
everywhere and nowhere.
14The project
for a Temporary Building in Wall Street builds upon the paradox of the physical and
virtual histories of the site by exploring the transformation of the wall as boundary to
the wall as a space. History has witnessed the passage of material site to the immaterial,
from boundaries which separate to those that join, from the permanent to the temporary.
The site of the fortification wall of New Amsterdam, the home of 9 to 5 corporate culture,
has been transformed by a proliferation of electronic exchange into a new 24 hour
community. The proposal for Wall Street formulates a temporary center for cultural
exchange.
15The temporary
building for Wall Street is a prototype, a "kit of parts" which inherently
suggests the impossibility of an "original". As with the Herzog and de Meuron
project, identifiable programmatic elements are suggested which are reconfigured in
various ways in response to particular situations and sites. The project involves the
construction of a wall which is not a wall: a transparent boundary which frames and
reflects the existing site, which transforms to provide temporary spaces within the street
scape of the city which are simultaneously inside and outside, public and private.
16A fragmented
glass wall is positioned in relation to an existing street facade, acting as both frame
and window. New and old are superimposed, reflections of inhabitants and passersby are
superimposed. The walls slide upon a scaffold-like structure to accommodate immediate and
temporary needs; Rooms open into the street. The street becomes a room within the city, a
communal space. The structure multiplies throughout Wall Street, a fragmented wall of
transparent panels which recall an image of silicon chips, a billboard and advertisement
of commerce and trade superimposed with community events; exhibitions, meetings and social
gatherings.
17Identifiable
functional elements appear: a small theater, projection walls, offices, meeting rooms,
interactive displays, and a cyber-café are inserted into the temporary scaffolding in
various configurations.
18The
significance of the prototype lies within its inherent ability to adapt to the particulars
of site and place, heightening the possibility for individual and cultural expression. The
prototypical ability to morph with site and place offers a strategy which goes above the
imperialistic imposition of grafting an idealized form or function to a site. As physical
space is increasingly redefined by electronic media and globalization increases, the
site-specific prototype carries the potential of a new individualism to the masses. Just
as the world wide web offers the individual the possibility of personalization and
empowerment in a world of increasing homogenization, the transformative properties of the
prototype when engaged in the particulars of site lend a new richness to the multiplicity
of place. The "original" is reborn within the copy in the electronic age.
Notes
1 Jocko Weyland, "same same", Metropolis
, July/August 1997, (New York: Bellerophon Publications Inc., 1997), p. 106.
2 Lynn Zelevansky, Guillermo Kuitca,
(Newport Beach, CA: Newport Harbor Art Museum, 1992).
3 Guillermo Kuitca, Kuitca, (New York:
Annina Nosei Gallery, 1991). The author himself discusses his work in Anybody, ed.
Cynthia Davidson, (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997), pp. 132-137.
4 Nancy Burson, Faces, (Houston:
Contemporary Arts Museum, 1992).
5 Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the
Age of Mechanical Reproduction",Illuminations, (New York: Harcourt, Brace
& World, 1968).
6 Kunsthalle Zurich, Sherrie
Levine, (Zurich: Kunsthalle, 1991). See also Rosalind Krauss insightful essay
"The Originality of the Avant-Garde: A Postmodernist Repetition" in Art after
Modernism, (New York: The New Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984), pp. 12-29.
7 As compared to the failure of its European
counterpart, in a land where history is abundant and "culture" reigns.
8 Jean Baudrillard discusses Disneyland and
hyperreality in Simulations, (New York: Semiotext(e), 1983).
9 Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, (New
York: The Monacelli Press, 1994), p. 240.
10 el croquis, vol. 84 (Madrid: el
croquis, 1997), pp. 144-149.
11 Gordon Kipping/ G TECTS, "RUSS: Residual
Urban Site Strategies", exhibition pamphlet, (New York: StoreFront for Art and
Architecture, 1997).
12 The initial development of the project was
inspired by a competition sponsored by the Van Alen Institute of New York.
13 Rem Koolhaas, Delirious New York, (New
York: The Monacelli Press, 1994), pp. 13-17. |