On Real World Violence Zachary Henderson

I want to take look back at an Antoun project by Angie Chan and Ben Bartlett. In the context of the studio, the manner in which they dealt with the U House proved to be something of a revelation. One decision in particular—a new doorway cut into the concrete wall—begins to reveal the authors’ attitude towards the fragment they inherited, as well as the studio exercise more broadly.

The rough edges of the new opening records the work of the (imaginary) power saw, a seemingly unceremonious act of violence that takes place where the U House gets in the way of the new addition. There’s a sense that the wall fragment has been conceived of as something that is palpable, something that has a vulnerability.

This project presented an opportunity for everyone to reflect on the work undertaken so far in Antoun. Through grappling with the physicality of the wall fragment, suddenly the U House shifted into being something that was real and present. A question contended with throughout the semester became even more confronting—if the real-world U House were to be subjected to something you proposed, what then?