2
| |
2005.11.30 14:45
Consumerism and Monumentality
The entire issue of Oppositions 25 is devoted to Monument/Memory, and a google of 'Oppositions 25' offer an interesting set of links.
2005.11.30 17:33
Consumerism and Monumentality
Monumentality in architecture has a much longer relationship with reenactment than it does with consumerism. According to dictionary.com monument is pretty much synonymous with memorial and thus memory (ie, mental reenactment) is integral to monumentality.
Is one of today's problems (in designing a monument) that there is no longer a collective memory?
I occasionally wonder if the Second Bank of the United States (1818-1820) is the first bank anywhere to reenact a Greek temple. The First Bank (1795) is more Palladian than pure temple. Typology has a long relationship with reenactment as well.
Architects can build allusions and architects can build illusions.
Generic buildings and typical plans have a long history too.
I wish scale in architecture was simply taught more.
2005.11.30 18:06
Consumerism and Monumentality
Monuments seem to be more personal now-a-days; I'm not sure about the "need for introspection," however. As demonstrated by the Vietnam War Memorial, personal interactivity is a key ingredient in what make it a successful monument--the leaving of 'mememtos', the tracing of the name, the literal reflections of the visitors in the wall itself.
Note that memorial interactivity is not a new thing either, it had just been ritualized over centuries, and today's seeming lack of collective memory may be just as much a reaction to now stale rituals. There may be valuable lessons to learn from the spontaneous memorials that occur where car accidents deaths happened.
The Modern Movement in architecture pretty much worked to erase the collective memory of architecture, so the lack of collective memory in architecture, at least, is no longer a new thing.
| |
| |
|