USER ARCHITECTURE: A new beginning
Anand Mundachalil Rajeev
Professor: Charles Stankievech
TA: Julie Rene de Cotret
Intro to Critical Theory, JAV 200 December,3, 2017
The creation of Architecture as a discipline could be rooted in Leon Batista Alberti’s differentiation of an architect as the intellectual who designs a building from the builder who constructs it. Since then architects looking at the past has classified structures into many styles and created new styles each claiming to be better than the other ranging from the Renaissance, Modernism, Postmodernism, Deconstructionism to Parametricism. John Mcmorrough on his essay Ru(m)inations: the Haunts of Contemporary Architecture call the discipline’s current state “the fort becomes the prison.” The discourse forming styles created arguments to defend itself; now these debates have become the discipline’s content.1 Thus, the discipline is no longer capable of sustaining the development of architecture. In this chaos, the time has come for architecture to redefine itself to create a sustainable environment for creativity to flourish. We draw the essence of this redefinition from the artwork User Art created by Anand Mundachalil Rajeev, in March 2017. The artwork redefines art from being a framework for self-expression to a platform for building new artworks. The artist no longer merely questions through selfexpression but now creates a tool or system that allows the user to engage with the artist’s questions to form their conclusion and to embed their opinion to the artwork. Architecture should make good of User Art which by defining the role of the artist as someone who creates a platform for self-expression freshen the disciple, it truly creates a work of the present time, it incorporates user response and enhances cultural inclusion.
1 McMorrough John. "Ru(m)inations: The Haunts of Contemporary Architecture." In Constructing a new agendaArchitectural theory 1993-2009, 462-71. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.
The spirit of the time or the Zeitgeist introduced by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831) acknowledges a collective thought or aspiration shared by a society that manifests in many forms throughout the ages2. Hegel classifies the past into three main eras the Symbolic, Classical and Romantic and each held the spirit in architecture, in sculpture and in art, music and poetry sequentially. This interest towards manifestation of the collective spirit is what drives architecture to make many styles and with each style claiming to be better than the other. All new architectural styles when introduced claims that it is the purest materialization of the spirit of its time. User Art differs in this opinion of manifesting the spirit through a single medium. User Art was created in the University of Toronto Visual Strategies course taught by Professor Catherine Heard. User Art is a software application that creates collages called user art. It establishes artworks in three components. For the first part, the artist creates a collage from a bank of images.3 In the second section, the program creates a random collage from the same bank of images4 For the third component, the program has a collage creator which images on top of one another at a fast pace
2 Hegel, George W. F. Introductory Lectures on Asthetics. Penguin Books, 1993.
3 MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: Artist image.” Digital image
4 MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: Random image.” Digital image.
thus continuously cropping and creating images. The user gets to press a button and get multiple image out of it. Then he/she could choose an image of his/her liking created from the collage creator as the third piece.5In Aqua Viva, Clarice talks about time and how she is trying to capture the present through her work. She says “I’m trying to seize the fourth dimension of this instant now so fleeting that its already gone because it already becomes a new instant- now that’s also already gone. Everything has an instant in which it is. I want to grab hold of the 'is' of the thing.”6 I agree with her that the moment slips away every time she attempts to capture it. User Art captures the present not by attempting to hold it as it slips away but by completing the work in the present time. User Art is not complete until its end User create images using the collage creator and choose the one they like to be the Third piece of the collage. Thus, it is truly a piece of the present time, created in the present time when the user is enjoying it. If you look around architecture is similar. The architecture and historians such as McMorrough claims the death of architecture styles and how architecture discipline shifted from one style to another but, this is not true. Almost every style is reconstructed today due to consumer demand such as the modern house by Austin Maynard architects “That House” built in 2016 or houses designed by offices like New Victorian Homes. User Architecture uses inspiration from User Art to acknowledge
5 MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: User image.” Digital image
6 Lispector, Clarice, Stefan Tobler, and Benjamin Moser. Agua Viva. London: Penguin Classics, 2014.
that to truly capture the present one must complete the project with the User’s choice in the time of creation.
Architecture today has a wide variety of styles being constructed and compared at the same time, unlike any other ages. Many architectural styles have emerged from powerful rulers or aristocrats demonstrating their power. Such as the mannerist architecture promoted by the Medici family in Italy or the neoclassicism advanced by King Louis XVIth in France. But, today even without the powerful king or the aristocrats supporting it these architectural styles is admired by many. The style persists, and this is evidence of why diversity and cultural inclusion is key in architecture. Brenman, Marc, and Thomas W. Sanchez in there writing directed towards planners define diversity as “referring to differences among ethnic and racial groups, although it is used to describe differences within groups. It includes an emphasis on accepting, respecting, and valuing differences among people by recognizing that no one group is intrinsically superior to another.” 7This simple view that creates mutual respect and which enables many ideas to coexist and rely on each other is what architecture needs. The chapter further outlines the different benefits of diversity such as adding resilience, optimizing resource use, improving intergroup relation. The author continues to give to outline actions that policymakers need to take to accommodate diversity. The user enables diversity and mutual respect. It creates a platform for all types of opinions and views to exist. This will create mutual respect and reliability within the society. In the specific collage created using the program, the artwork criticizes art through an image bank of iconic art and computational design images. In the first part, the images of iconic
7 Brenman, Marc, and Thomas W. Sanchez. "Diversity and Inclusion." In Planning as if People Matter, 63-94. Washinton/ Covelo/ London: Island Press.
art from the twentieth-century forms repeated vertical lines. It indicates the power of the artist in the art world. The pictures that repeat horizontal lines are of designs made using computational software showing the philosophical shift towards user-friendly design. The repetitions arrange in a way that the 20th-century paintings grouped to make a horizontal line indicating its descent. The computational images group together to form a vertical line suggesting an upcoming ascent. The other interesting elements are the dimensions of the pictures in part one. All the images are in proportion to the dimensions of a cell phone. Precisely from dimensions of iPhone 3, 5, 6 and Samsung Galaxy s7, s3,s4 mini, thus referring to one the most user-oriented objects in the world. Another element is small images in the background. They come up in random locations, but as they move from left to right, they swell, creating an outward movement. Indicating, how the art world is slowly shifting from artist-oriented design towards a user-oriented design. Part two is created by the software randomly. Thus, its meaning can change every time the user runs it. But the image bank ensures that the random collage is a comparison of 20th-century art and computational design. The part three is chosen by the user and its meaning is created by the user with the choice he/she makes. The enables a diversity of opinions to exist. The user could choose an image highlighting computational image or iconic art as the third collage. Thus, the artwork enables multiple views to co-exist within the same system. Another important aspect is the medium it utilizes and the Aura it generates. Aura of the artwork as described by Walter Benjamin in the essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, which ties to the authenticity of the artwork.8 Being a software program User Art could be displayed in an infinite number of places simultaneously creating an endless number of platforms for raising questions
8 Walter, Benjamin. The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Illuminations, 1968.
and voicing opinions yet every one of them will be an authentic artwork. Thus, it questions originality or the inflammation of importance of an artwork as time passes on. This work brings equality among its many versions. They are all the equal importance and are all original. Without any discrimination different cultures and diverse opinions could use this platform for expression. User Architecture incorporates these aspects into the discipline. It portrays all styles as equal and is to be chosen by the User. The architecture could respect different cultures and styles without emphasizing that one is better than the other.
The ghost identified by Patrick Schumacher in his Parametric Manifesto is the disconnect caused in the architecture world because of its Fordist mentalities and the Post-Fordist world that we live in today.9 The society according to him has significantly changed, “The mass society that was characterized by a single, nearly universal consumption standard has evolved into the heterogeneous society of the multitude.” This is his description the change in our society. The universal consumption standard was the result of the producers creating standards for products for easier and cheaper production, such as the standard mug or kettle. This mentality could be seen in architects such as Walter Gropius and others who worked with him in the Bauhaus school. At that time the society then influenced by the emerging industrialization standardized products, today we see the opposite. Today, industrial production is still the primary means for creating industrial goods, but there is more variety in very products than ever before. What has changed is the attitude. Before the industries and companies producing the product had autonomy in their specific products markets thus, they dictated the products designs in the name of standards. Today, with a large number of competing companies advertising for the same
9 Patrick. "Parametricism as Style - Parametricist Manifesto." Patrik Schumacher. 2008. Accessed December 1, 2017.
product there is a larger variety available in the market. User Art acknowledges this change in society. It does not deem that an artist or his/her question as more important than another artist or his/her question. It does this by creating a platform for raising questions and including opinions. User Art can function in the society as a catalyst for peace and equality as it provides an equal platform for differing questions and opinion to be represented and respected. The application in different locations could raise different questions by allowing the curator or a local artist to select the required two sets of images for the image bank. This allows for raising more relevant questions in different locations, and every user or visitor could represent his own opinion through the collage creator. The random collage would act as pun against the artwork itself where it questions about the chances of not representing of a message when the curator and all the users or visitors have a biased opinion on the topic. Thus, User Art is creating art that is most relevant to the society that is it presented to, and it incorporates its user’s opinions to work. User Architecture these aspects of User Art into its discipline it does this, mainly through two means. Firstly, means of architectural design, as outline by Kaminer, Tahl in his book In Architecture, crisis, and resuscitation: the reproduction of post-Fordism in late-twentieth-century architecture, the early cad software imitated the traditional drawing techniques but “newer software’s, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), fully internalizes the logic of the means of production.10 This leads to new ways of design that taken construction into consideration from the inception of the project. For example, the use of CATIA software in the construction of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Gehry. These software’s that brings
10 Kaminer, Tahl. "Structural Transformation." In Architecture, Crisis, and Resuscitation: the Reproduction of PostFordism in Late-twentieth-century Architecture, 174-75. First ed. London: Routledge, 2011.
in the realities of construction into the drawings creates new possibilities. He further highlights how ,“such software harbors a bigger promise- solving the diverse dichotomies that have challenged architecture since the advent of modernity: the ideal and the real, subject and object, drawing and building.” Secondly, as explained by Marc Kushner in his book the future of architecture in 100 buildings, “The average person is more comfortable having an opinion about architecture today than ever before, mostly due to the dialogue enabled by social media. 11The world’s 1.75 billion smartphones are fundamentally changing the way architecture is consumed, turning everyone into an architectural photographer”. Today we could get feedback on a building proposal through the rendering of it exposed to the community. In this way, the project becomes a part of the community before its creation and can also change according to the user’s wishes.
User Architecture takes spirit from User Art approach to art to bring new light to the architectural discourse. User Architecture by utilizing elements of User Art such as the creating art in present time, diversity and user response inclusion extracted a strong solution to the stagnation experienced by the discourse as outlined by Patrick Schumacher and McMurrough.
User Architecture incorporates creating in present time by considering all styles as equal and letting the user choice design approaches in present time. It broadens the architectural discipline to create unity in diversity like the User Art that gave equal importance to the artist’s creation, the computers creation, and the user’s choice. It also incorporates user response by listening to clients and communities’ response before architectural creation by utilizing real-life effects created by renderings and virtual reality gadgets. The User Architecture and User Art shine new
11 Kushner, Marc. The Future of Architecture in 100 buildings. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, New Delhi: TED Books, 2015.
lights into art and architecture. User Art and architecture is truly a new beginning and a new path for architecture and art.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. McMorrough John. "Ru(m)inations: The Haunts of Contemporary Architecture." In Constructing a New Agenda- Architectural Theory 1993-2009, 462-71. New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.
2. Hegel, George W. F. Introductory Lectures on Asthetics. Penguin Books, 1993.
3. MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: Artist image.” Digital image
4. MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: random image.” Digital image
5. MundachalilRajeev, Anand. “User Art: User imsge.” Digital image
6. Lispector, Clarice, Stefan Tobler, and Benjamin Moser. Agua Viva. London: Penguin Classics, 2014.
7. Brenman, Marc, and Thomas W. Sanchez. "Diversity and Inclusion." In Planning as if People Matter, 63-94. Washinton/ Covelo/ London: Island Press.
8. Walter, Benjamin. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Illuminations, 1968.
9. Patrick. "Parametricism as Style - Parametricist Manifesto." Patrik Schumacher. 2008. Accessed December 1, 2017. http://www.patrikschumacher.com/Texts/Parametricism%20as%20Style.htm.
10. Kaminer, Tahl. "Structural transformation." In Architecture, Crisis, and Resuscitation: The Reproduction of Post-Fordism in Late-twentieth-century Architecture, 174-75. First ed. London: Routledge, 2011.
11. Kushner, Marc. The future of architecture in 100 buildings. New York, London, Toronto, Sydney, New Delhi: TED Books, 2015.
APPENDIX
THESIS: Architecture should make good of user art which by defining the role of the artist as someone who creates a platform for self-expression freshen the disciple, it truly creates a work of the present time, enhances cultural inclusion, and it incorporates user response.
OUTLINE:
PARA 1: INTRO
• Introduction to architectural discourse.
• The chaos in the discipline and its reason. (“ruminations”)
• Solution to be found in User art.
• Why architecture should use user art as its role model[thesis]. (cacophony)
PARA 2: PRESENT TIME
• Architecture and its concerns on present time, Hegel.
• What is User art?
• How user art is in the present time. (“Aqua Viva”)
• How architecture should follow user art?
PARA 3: CULTURAL INCLUSION.
• Need for diversity and inclusion in architecture.
• Definition and advantages from policy guidelines. (“Planning as if people matter”)
• How user art communicates?
• The visual devices it uses?
• The issue of Aura. (“In the age of Mechanical reproduction”)
• How these results in enhanced cultural inclusion.
• How architecture could do the same to increase cultural inclusion.)
PARA 4: USER RESPONSE
• Architecture and society in Fordist mentality (“Parametric Manifesto”)
• Architecture and art not oriented towards the user.
• How user art functions in the society?
• How user art incorporates user response?
• How architecture can incorporate user response. (“future of architecture in hundred buildings 100”), (“Structural transformation”)
PARA 5: CONCLUSION
• How user art and architecture ties together.
• A summary of how user art could be the light of User Architecture.
• A look into the flaws in both e user art and architecture.
• How we should hope to make a better world with this, even though it might not be perfect.
• How’s its imperfection is the right answer for its further development.