6th century BC Great Wall of China
c. 400 BC Servian Wall
271-75 Aurelian Wall
1948 Iron Curtain
1961.08.13 Berlin Wall
Israeli Wall
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2003.08.15 11:26
Re: berlin wall reenactment
...a rebuilding of the Berlin Wall (even) in plastic would/will have reenactionary architecturism "written all over it."
The Israel Wall is real, and will probably always be compared with the quondam real Berlin Wall. West Berlin was the great walled city of the 20th century. Is Israel now going to be the great walled nation of the 21st century? I know yesterday's article, speaks of the Israel Wall as "the biggest construction project in the world, "so I'm now wondering if the Iron Curtain was the last prior "biggest construction project in the world." Then, also, was/is the Great Wall of China the biggest construction project ever?
A rebuilding of the Berlin Wall in Berlin in plastic would not be much different than, for example, a reenactment of a Civil War battle.
The Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia appears to be reenacting both Third Empire Paris as well as Piranesi's virtual Campo Marzio.
It will (probably) still take some time before Las Vegas loses it's 'status' as reenactment capital of the world, however.
It's interesting to see all the various directions that "degrees of separation" can go when it comes to reenactment.
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2004.02.13 12:44
Re: of castles, fortifications, etc.
Great stuff. I never read any books on symbolism before; I will now, however.
Lots of things zipped through my mind while reading:
Castles, Ludwig II, reenactment, Otto in a Schloss (i.e., the German for either castle or lock), schizophrenia in a lock-box.
New Jerusalem, Bryn Athyn Cathedral (or Church of the New Jerusalem), Academy of the New Church, Glencairn, Cairnwood--all local (to me) architecture built with Pitcairn (the local 'Rockefellers') money--I can't readily go to Bavaria anytime I want, but that's not case with Bryn Athyn, for a few years now I call it "a little land of reenactment."
Bryn Athyn Cathedral is indeed a true Gothic construction in that all the stones are held together with mortar and gravity alone, perhaps the only true Gothic Cathedral built entirely in the 20th century. Although still large, it is nonetheless somewhat diminutive in that its scale is something like 2/3rds or 3/5ths the average Gothic Cathedral. The overriding symbolism of this Church goes un-noticed by most--nothing in the design is straight, level or exact; column spacing is always slightly off, all walls slightly bow, there is a slight curve to everything, especially to whatever looks straight. Only God is perfect.
The administration building of the Academy of the New Church is a very early Mitchell/Giurgola building, whose design somewhat reenacts the design of Kahn's unexecuted Goldenberg House, which was to be build on a site just a couple miles down from Bryn Athyn.]
Louis Kahn's unexecuted Domincan Motherhouse of St. Catherine de Ricci is chock full of symbolism--today, 13 February, is the feast of St. Catherine de Ricci. I guess I'll visit Elstowe (for the first time) today, and then maybe go take pictures of the castle at the quondam Beaver College.
The Egyptian walls of hieroglyphics and the Berlin Wall of graffiti.
The metabolic urbanism of contemporary Israel.
The secret symbols of Piranesi's Ichnographia Campi Martii.
It is a real joy to still see cedar trees growing in a place long ago called Cedar Grove.
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2004.04.14 14:29
Re: this from UCLA
It seems clear that what the Palestinian students are doing is reenactionary. Moreover, what are walls if not seminal architecturism? "architecturalizing reenactment" sounds like a synonym for mnemonics (especially as outlined by Quintilian--reference Frances A. Yates, The Art of Memory, page 3).
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