mm: If we think of various strategies of thinking and writing on
architecture, what was and is your own project of writing? Is it a project of critical history, critical theory or something else? Do you understand yourself more as a critic, historian, or writer on architecture? bc: The word critical has become completely cliché. The overuse
“There is no such thing as criticism, there is only history.” Richard Ingersoll interviews Manfredo Tafuri, »There is no Criticism, Only History,« Design Book Review, Spring 1986, rpt. in Casabella 619/620 (1995): 97.
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of the term has devalued it. Remember that article of Tafuri: »There is no Criticism; Only History«? 6 -------------------------------I probably have something close to that position too. But I like to think of myself more like an architect than a historian, an architect who writes. At the core of my writing there is always architecture, and there is also an architecture to my writing. Structure is very important to me.
mm: So if you are not interested in a critical project or position,
what’s the nature of your writing project in general?
bc: The core of my writing has been dedicated to the relationships
between architecture and media. When I started writing, the focus was on early 20th century media: architectural magazines, film, photography, radio, television . . . and the way architects used these new media as a new site of architectural production. In recent years, an unexpected media revolution has taken place, of at least the same significance as the one that brought us photography, film, illustrated magazines and modern publicity, has taken place. The internet, email, blogs, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc., have profoundly changed the way we work, write, analyze, interact play or even make love. Can we expect architecture not to be affected? To think about this transformation is part of my current project.
mm: Your interest in the relationship between architecture and
media also inspired a new program you founded at Princeton University, entitled Media and Modernity. How did you structure it? Is it associated exclusively with the School of Architecture?
bc: No, it is completely interdisciplinary. I am the first director,
but in fact it is a collaborative effort from a number of people