Global Monument | Christina Lufkin | Barrett Honors Thesis

GLOBAL MONUMENT

by Christina Lufkin

Christina Lufkin Undergraduate Honors Thesis Barrett, The Honors College The Design School Spring 2019

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION THE CONDITION OF THE 21ST CENTURY

a global society monument (n.)

CASE STUDIES

the dérive architectural evocations

METHODOLOGY + PROPOSAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INTRODUCTION

“On the bus ride home from work the other day, a girl asked me what time Venice closes”

I gazed back at Giovanna in total disbelief. We were sitting out on the balcony of her apartment, overlooking Mestre, Venice’s lesser known coastal half that mirrors the small, twinkling island across the water. It was the first week of June, and I had only been in the city for mere hours.

“No one comes for Mestre— they come for Venice. Most of them have never even heard of it,” She slowly shifted her eyes toward the water.

“I guess it’s just funny to me because at the end of the day, Venice is just another town like anyplace else. I mean, I’m originally from Rome, so I get it--it’s not like the ignorance is anything new to me.

But I think if she’d have asked me that same question five years ago, I probably wouldn’t have been so nice about it”

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As the 2018 recipient of the Sean Murphy Prize, in tandem with the Dan and Dawn Horvat Travel Endowment, I was afforded the opportunity to spend eight weeks traveling across Europe during the summer of 2018. The first three weeks of my trip were devoted to attending several international celebrations of design and architecture, which included Clerkenwell Design Week in London, la Biennale Architettura in Venice, and Barcelona Design Week. For the remainder of the summer, I spent my time in Germany investigating the postwar urban reconstruction and memory landscapes of nine different cities: Berlin, Dresden, Munich, Frankfurt Am Main, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Bremen, Wolfsburg, and Hamburg.

From this experience, I encountered a number of extraordinary sights and scenes. I was perplexed by the innumerable ways that architecture is so often used, across all contexts, as a powerful tool of symbolism and identity. During my travels, I witnessed how a structure can embrace somewhat of a life-like quality when placed in just the right context, not unlike watching an actor on a stage who performs a monologue against a dramatic backdrop. Scenes that emulated such a powerful and moving quality ranged from projects such as the pavillions of the Museum Hombroich Insel in Neuss, Brunelleschi’s Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, La Sagrada Familia 8

in Barcelona, the ruins of the KaiserWilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in Berlin, and the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex ouside of Essen. Each of these projects could not be more different in their nature, scope, typology, and setting, yet they all possesed this mythic quality.

On another note, as a tourist, I was also made keenly atuned to the status of our global condition. Or rather, I may have just scratched the tip of the iceberg. As a native to the coming-of-age desert metropolis of Phoenix, Arizona, I had not anticipated how much the stark contrast between the cultural climate of sleepy, sprawling Phoenix and her European contemporaries would heighten my awareness. Spending time in cities like Venice and Florence, while extreme examples they are, I observed how intensely the presence of mass tourism has commodified their heritage and alienated their communities in ways that made them far more akin to a theme park than anything else. With bus tours marketing a neatly packaged sightseeing deal that promises to showcase the most important sights of a city for the all-inclusive (yes, wifi too!) price of twenty euros, we have arrived at an age of the consumable city. I struggle to imagine a scenario in which I am asked the question, “What time does Phoenix close?”

Coming home, and trying to make sense of all of the experiences I had encountered during this epic

eight week journey, my mind was bombarded with questions. I was both troubled and fascinated by the built environment’s ability to influence perceptions of place. I seemed to intuitively understand the ways in which the typology of the monument is used to assist in the perpetuation of specific historical narratives for better or worse, and furthermore bear witness to the consequences that result in extreme cases where our obsession with such sites of significance enable a disengagement from the rest of the world.

This curiousity is what ultimately sparked the central investigation of this thesis: what exactly is the condition of the architectural monument in the 21st century?

In this speculative investigation of architecture’s radical potential to reframe perceptions of place and notions of significance, an intervention is proposed that seeks to challenge classical notions of monumentality and establish the new condition of this primitive building typology in the context of the 21st century global society.

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The emergence of relations among things, more than the things themselves, always gives rise to new meanings.

-Aldo Rossi

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THE CONDITION OF THE 21ST CENTURY A GLOBAL SOCIETY The Times Are A Changin’

Since ancient times, humans have sought distant places to settle, trade, and produce goods in the wake of technological and transportation improvements. However, it was not until the 19th century that the world witnessed the emergence of the global society that has come to profoundly characterize the 21st century. Following centuries of European colonization and international trade, the modernization propelled by the invention of steamships, railroads, telegraphs and the like sparked by the Industrial Revolution enabled an unprecedented level of worldwide economic cooperation1.

This international cooperation, along with the continued advancements in technology and transportation, have been the driving force responsible for the acceleration of the world’s globalization during the last century2. In the conditions 1 Robert Thompson, “Globalization and the Benefits of Trade,” Chicago Fed Letter, March 2007.

2 Ueli Gyr, “The History of Tourism: Structures on the Path to Modernity Tourism,” EGO. 12

brought about by the most recent global phenomenon--the digital revolution--the world has never been so connected3.

Concerning A Global Attitude

As the world grows more and more connected and the proliferation of every culture is facilitated by our increasing exposure to them, the hard boundaries that once distinguished their historically perceived rigid differences have begun to fade. Discussion regarding the relationship between globalization and nationalistic ideology in our postindustrial society has spurred a handful of compelling arguments that attempt to characterize their tricky dynamic. In today’s global climate, nationalism--a political, economic, and social ideology defined by the promotion of a particular nations interests, often at the expense of another4--has arguably become more negatively associated throughout more of the world than ever before. Following the world wars and dark events that 3 Melina Kolb, “What Is Globalization?”

Peterson Institute for International Economics, October 29, 2018, accessed April 02, 2019 4 Adlai Erwin, “Nationalism in a Globalized Era,” Medium.

traumatized much of the 20th century, the global community has since become hypersensitive to the destructive power of nationalism5. Discussion regarding the relationship between globalization and nationalistic ideology in our postindustrial society has spurred a handful of compelling arguments that attempt to characterize their tricky dynamic.

On the one hand, the increasing permeability of national borders indicate a natural diminishing of the overall role of nationalism and national identity6. The increased exchange of people and the cultures that follow has unintentionally undermined the presence of singularly identifiable cultural identities7. Plurality between states has diminished in the wake of a single global community characterized by this amalgamation of cultures. The industrial revolution of the late 19th century spurred massive movements and migrations of people with the advent of the railroad and steamboat, prompting an exchange of cultures and economies that would become characteristic of nations like the United States as the world transitioned into the 20th century. Technological breakthroughs across the latter half of the 20th century have furthermore 5 Farah Mohammed, “The New Meaning of Monuments,” Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism.

6 Adlai Erwin, “Nationalism”.

7 Ibid.

increased our frequencies of interaction and exposure to individuals across the world by eliminating the barriers of physical distance. An individualized profile on any social media platform provides a key that unlocks immediate access to the lives and musings of anyone anywhere.

Yet it must be acknowledged that contrary to such rationales, a few cases have been made arguing that frictions instigated by globalization have in fact perpetuated nationalistic sentiments and ideals. For the very reasons outlined above, one might observe how this movement of people and mixing of cultures could also be perceived as a threat to certain portions of the population who feel pressure to preserve their cultural heritage. Another reason for resistance to the global embrace is the feeling of insecurity faced by smaller nation-states when their instrumentality to the international political climate threatens to be overshadowed8. In these regards, the critical relationship between globalization and nationalism is one of contradictions9.

Nonetheless, the ever-present anticipation of new technologies and infrastructures show no indication of a slowing down of this international 8 Dani Rodrik, Has Globalization Gone Too Far?. (Washington: Peterson Institute of International Economics, 1997).

9 Angharad Closs Stevens,“The Affective Atmospheres of Nationalism,” Cultural Geographies 23, no. 2 (April 2016): 181–98.

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connectedness.

MONUMENT (N.) Architectural Propaganda

In twentieth century Europe and the epochs preceding, according to Alois Riegl’s taxonomy of monuments, “Der Moderne Denkmalkultus”, the monument was a nationalistic, selfaggrandizing totem to commemorate the epic. Its program was born out of the ritual of an exchange between the object and the admonisher--one who had felt compelled to travel to where it existed and partake in the act of remembering in the presence of the enduring structure10. Most often, they are understood as relics of the past that bear symbolism and narratives that are ultimately dictated by governments, religions, and authoritative power systems of the like. In this way, not only do monuments carry an inherent bias in their synthesis by only capturing and retelling one particular version of history, but they give this version of history prominence and authority11. This is part

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of what makes the monument such a powerful tool in society. Its dramatic presence allows for the perpetuation of singular narratives, and given the fact that decisions regarding something’s worthiness of a special designation is belongs more often than not to those in power, a monument inherently favors that bias and diminishes the prominence of any opposing or alternative narratives12.

This is a fundamental characteristic of the traditional monument typology. The Eiffel Tower, the Washington Monument, and the Pyramids of Giza were all erected in honor and celebration of the greatness of their respective country and rulers13.

While each of the three could not reside in more different contexts, they share common qualities that are found in what is known as the romantic era monument typology14: massive in scale, a grounded relationship to the earth beneath, constructed out of a material engineered to endure millennia, a 12 Ebru Erbas Gurler and Basak Ozer, “The Effects of Public Memorials on Social Memory and Urban Identity,” Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 82. (July 3, 2013): 858-63.

10 Alois Riegl and Diane Ghirardo, The Modern Cult of Monuments: Its Character and Its Origin. (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1982).

13 Andrew Herscher, “In Ruins: Architecture, Memory, Countermemory,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians (73, no.

4, 2014:) 464-69.

11 Niamh NicGhabhann, “Why Do Monuments Matter?” RTE.ie, November 27, 2017.

14 Achim Timmermann, Memory and Redemption: Public Monuments and the Making of Late Medieval Landscape. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2017).

relationship to the sky that is articulated by an apex (another subtle suggestion of their enduring nature). This list is not comprehensive, but it begins to map out a rationale as to why these three structures have achieved such iconic status.

It is critical to take note of the fact that while structures like these three have made such prominent names for themselves the world over, seldom are they ever erected in modern times.

This is because in the digital age of today, a place in society for an object like this--a self-aggrandizing relic of authority-- is controversial at best, if not altogether obsolete. Even in the case of contemporary memorials, the preferred architecture of these sites has shifted focus towards commemoration of the victims, warning of the tragedies and evils associated with loss15. As Mario Carpo states in his essay, The Postmodern Cult of Monuments, most of today’s monuments have, more or less, been reduced to their most timeless function of demarcating graves. He suggests that a monument no longer has the ability to point to or assume a future narrative, like romantic era monuments erected to commemorate a nation’s awesomeness in the eons to come, since the postmodern construction of history does not provide one, or rather 15 Michael Kimmelman, “Out of Minimalism, Monuments to Memory.” The New York Times. January 12, 2002.

it provides too many. Thus, according to Carpo’s logic, “historical monuments have no place in post-historical times”16.

As an added point, as the previous section mentions, the erection of such a structure is more likely to be recieved with a degree of confusion and apprehension, as anything suggestive of strong, nationalistic ideals triggers ill memories of a century scarred by war and its subsequent devastation.17 A recent example of this is witnessed in India’s completion of a new tribute to independence-era leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The 597 foot statue sparked some unease as Patel, known as India’s “Iron Man” has been described as the adopted right-wing icon for the country’s Hindu nationalists.18

Although the typology of the traditional monument is arguably outdated and unfit in today’s globalized context.

Another observation that points to modern society’s “out-growing” of the romantic era monuments is that they no longer recieve the same quality of interaction that they were intially 16 Mario Carpo, “The Postmodern Cult of Monuments”, Future Anterior: Journal of Historic Preservation, History, Theory, and Criticism. (4, no. 2 ,2007:) 50-60.

17 Leah Dickerman, “Monumental Propaganda,” October165 (August 29, 2018): 17891.

18 Vidhi Doshi, “Four times as Tall as the Statue of Liberty: India’s New Monument to Its ‘Iron Man’,” The Washington Post.

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concieved for. In the times leading up to the advent of the technological and transportation advancements that resulted in mass tourism and travel, to visit a monument was to make a pilgrimmage. Carpo describes in his essay that during those times, without the saturation of imagery that is characteristic of the digital age, there was a special degree of mystery and anticipation that could be maintained by a site that compelled individuals to make the journey19. These structures were deeply coveted; not only did the extensive travel make the arrival all the more precious, their massive scale was indicitive of an impressive feat of engineering that was diffecult for much of the pre-industrial world to comprehend.

In this way, these sites of memory demanded a stronger reverence from the submissive visitor.

In today’s world, the obstacles of distance and time that once promoted this hierarchical relationship between monument and visitor have been radically diminished. To fly across the Atlantic takes mere hours and a small savings. As a consequence, our relationship to monuments has shifted from an attitude of reverence to one of utilitarianism. We now look to monuments to fulfill our desire for entertainment and social capital; a selfie in front of the Tower of Pisa boasts a cultured vacation in Northern Italy while

also notating the town as a place of popularity and importance. We observe monuments less as sites of valuable memory, and instead as valuable tools to be taken advantage of. If a city has successfully planted itself on a tourist map, it can likely be traced back to the presence of some widely recognized icon. We need not be so careful when planning a European vacation, as we can easily do a quick Google search and decide on the most popular cities according to the proliferation of their built symbolism in just minutes. Their physicality and monumental esthetic make them highly successful in crafting succinct images of a place that stays burned in our memory. The monuments do the work for us.

19 Mario Carpo, “The Postmodern Cult of Monuments”. 50-60.

20 Peter Boerner, Goethe (London: Haus, 2005).

The Image of the City

While the saturation of digital media today has further established monumental icons of place, prompted by widespread acces to and familiarity with their imagery, this notion of image as a way to attract and evoke curiousity has existed for centuries. An early illustration of this is is observed in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Italian Journey20.

A prominent German writer during the 18th century, Goethe was inspired

by Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s famous

etchings of Rome. Piranesi, an Italian artist, was highly successful throughout the 18th century at dramatically capturing scenes throughout Rome in a way that manipulated scale, altered the

through Italy significantly impacted his writing, and upon his return to Germany he published his famed work “Italian Journey”. Goethe’s writing became a critical piece of German literature, inspiring generations following to seek out these sites21.

This example illustrates the pervasive way that monumental architecture has functioned as a powerful tool of placemaking for centuries.

architecture, and enhanced depth. By amplifying the drama already present in the structure of the famous monuments he would depict, Piranesi played a significant role in the revival of Italy’s Grand Tour.

In another testament to the influence that these architectures hold is questioning what Paris would be without its Eiffel Tower? Or Giza without the Pyramids? Or perhaps Agra without the Taj Mahal?

Piranesi’s recreations of these dramatic scenes influenced young writers like Goethe to seek out these same places. The multi-year journey

21 Ibid.

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What Time Does Venice Close?

A number of consequences have arisen as the world has undergone a technological metamorphosis in the last century. As the tourism industry has caught on to the marketability of streamlined cultural sight-seeing packages, travellers in turn rely more and more on generalized cultural

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attractions to help them navigate their weekend itineraries.

A prominent example of this is the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus tours that translate the complexity and chaos of a city into a digestable, cookie-cutter mode of highspeed sight-seeing. Because of their affordability and low-comittment, they have found widespread success in nearly every major city across the world. While helpful they can be, these predetermined itineraries bring about an imbalance amongst cultural heritage sites. Those that are deemed marketable enough find their way onto the brightly colored maps, and those that don’t are seldom ever heard of.

This can be problematic in that it

leads to the perpetuation of generalized narratives who’s individual origins also may carry a degree of bias. While useful they are as tools of travel and cultural pedagogy, when travellers only look to the most successfully marketed heritage sites to fill their itineraries, they miss out altogether on the existence of alternative heritage identities and historical narratives.

Looking to cities like Venice who feel all but too far gone, a summer afternoon in Piazza San Marco might be easily mistaken for Main Street at Walt Disney World.

In the leading journal on the sociology of tourism, International Tourism: Identity and Change, sociologist Marie-Francoise Lanfant highlights the pervasive consequences of this industry built on the commodification of heritage sites, The spread of tourism in the world economy leads to the internationalization of cultures and the extroversion of societies. Along this path the most firmly anchored identities are weakened, torn from their moorings and broken up. Heritage, tradition and memory are misplaced. The line between the inside and the outside becomes blurred. The identification traits by which

individuals recognize themselves as being part of the same community are manipulated and lose their legitimacy. And at the outset it is the very notion of identity which becomes obsolete and inadequate. With international tourism we enter the domain of mobility, displacement, discontinuity, separation and transience.22

As some narratives are perpetuated at the expense of the misremembering of others, our attention is constantly being competed for in the global market. However, more often than not it seems that our attention is only won out in times of total chaos and violence. Not unlike our innate curiosity toward bold and irreconcilable architectures and landscapes like those in Piranesi’s depictions of Rome, humans desire drama and mystery.

Though the idea of chaos and disarray sounds fearsome, they are agents of change that generate event and unpredictability. A destabilization becomes, to us, a spectacle full of anticipation and wonder.

The recent fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris is evidence of this notion. Never before in history had this iconic building recieved as much collective attention than it did during its violent destruction23. As crowds 22 Marie-Francoise Lanfant, John B Allcock, and Edward M, Bruner, International Tourism: Identity and Change. (London: SAGE Publications, 1995).

23 Adam Nossiter, “In Aftermath of Notre-Dame Fire, Macron Urges Unity in Fragmented Nation,” The New York Times, April 16, 2019.

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gathered in the streets of Paris singing hymns, the rest of the world tuned in to every media outlet providing live footage of the event. Sentiments toward the building never before expressed were revealed in the millions of posts generated by social media users in response to the chaos.24

An objectively unfortunate thing to happen, the Cathedral’s destruction became the central focus of the global community for this brief period, prompting the unification of strangers throughout the world.

24 Julian Vigo, “Notre Dame Shows the Unifying Force of Culture, Grenfell Reveals the Corruption of Government,” CounterPunch.org, April 24, 2019.

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CASE STUDIES THE DERIVE: A SITUATIONIST RESPONSE TO THE HAUSMANIZATION OF PARIS

A critical history that has deeply informed the approach of this proposal is that of the Situationist International and the consequent development of the derive during the middle of the twentieth century. Formally established in 1957 by the merging of two avant-garde political and artistic movements--the Letterist International and the Imaginist Bauhaus--the Situationist International was an international organization which operated primarily across Europe1. The group was composed of a number of

political theorists, avant-garde artists, and intellectuals who deeply opposed the advanced capitalism and modernist ideals that characterized the mid1 Tom McDonough, Guy Debord and the Situationist International: Texts and Documents (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004).

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twentieth century2. Under the guidance of Guy Debord, the Situationists published a series of journals and attempted a wide variety of political and artistic activities intended to instigate subversion and provoke further discourse.

One of the central practices developed by the Situationists that aimed at subverting authoritative power systems was the dérive. The practice of the dérive is described

by Debord as “a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences”3.

They are characterized by playfulconstructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effect, induced by the influence of a stimulant and guided by some predetermined random logic. The development of the dérive tactic was, in a way, a response to the Haussmannization of Paris that had so radically transformed the city in the century prior4. Advertised as a 2 Keith Bassett, “Walking as an Aesthetic Practice and a Critical Tool: Some Psychogeographic Experiments,” Journal of Geography in Higher Education 28, no. 3 (2004): 397-410.

3 Guy Debord, “Théorie De La Dérive,” Internationale Situationniste, December 1958.

4 Tiernan Morgan and Lauren Purje, “An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’,” Hyperallergic, May 14, 2017.

charitable and well-intentioned act of modernization during its time, Emperor Napolèon III’s renovation of the city was alternatively a systematic imposition of a

stark segregation along class lines6. In other words, reordering, dividing, and excluding as a means of control.

This authoritative conditioning of

nationalistic desire for control and order over the masses. The forceful creation of widened boulevards that destroyed the organic form of the medieval town was in truth a militant strategy to prevent future revolutionary conspiring5. Afterall, it was the erratic labyrinth of narrow streets that had enabled the proletariat to rise up against the bourgeoisie during the French Revolution. The new strategic boulevards were ornamented with a series of monuments at major intersections to further remind citizens of the authority and power of the government. This reordering of the Plan de Paris was responsible for the eviction of the working class from their traditional homes and the reinstating of

the Parisian’s day-to-day life by way of the city’s top down orderly physical layout-streets, sidewalks, neighborhoods, and the like--translated into a study done

by Chombart de Lauwe titled Paris et l’Agglomération Parisienne. In his study, the sociologist noted that “an urban neighborhood is determined not only by geographical and economic factors, but also by the image that its inhabitants and those of other neighborhoods have of it.”7 As a means of illustrating “the narrowness of the real Paris in which each individual lives . . . within a geographical area whose radius is extremely small,”8 Chombart de Lauwe diagramed the movements made by a

5 Amy Rideout, “Beyond the Façade: Haussmannization in Paris as a Transformation of Society,” Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee, 20th ser., 7, no. 1 (2016).

6 Ibid.

7 Paul Henry Chombart De Lauwe, Paris Et L’ Agglomeration Parisienne, 1st ed. (Paris: Presses Universitaires De France, 1952).

8 Ibid.

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student living in the 16th Arrondisement over the course of a year. The student’s daily itinerary formed a small triangle with few deviations outside of her school, residence, and that of her music teacher.

Guy Debord and his contemporaries developed the dérive as a way to free one’s mind from the insidious conditioning mediated by the built environment of Paris that they observed in their fellow Parisians, much like the student. In his 1958 publication, Théorie De La Dérive, Debord provides

a loose outline of the rules of practice for a dérive, suggesting they be done alone or in small groups of two to three individuals. He discusses points of departure, timing, and provides various recommendations of methodology.

Above all, his writing is significant in summarizing the ultimate purpose to be extracted from practice, The lessons drawn from dérives enable us to draft the first surveys of the

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psychogeographical articulations of a modern city. Beyond the discovery of unities of ambience, of their main components and their spatial localization, one comes to perceive their principal axes of passage, their exits and their defenses.

One arrives at the central hypothesis of the existence of psychogeographical pivotal points. One measures the distances that actually separate two regions of a city, distances that may have little relation with the physical distance between them. With the aid of old maps, aerial photographs and experimental dérives, one can draw up hitherto lacking maps of influences, maps whose inevitable imprecision at this early stage is no worse than that of the earliest navigational charts. The only difference is that it is no longer a matter of precisely delineating stable continents, but of changing architecture and urbanism.9

When realized, a derive aims to foster a cognisance of alternative relationships between places made otherwise unclear by the limitations imposed by the physical structuring of the environment that dominate one’s movement and thus perception. This is achieved through the generation of a random, meaningless logic that, when followed, provides a temporary escape from the inherent bias that permeates the built environment and thus limits our engagement with new atmospheres.

9 Guy Debord, “Théorie”.

THE CONTINUOUS MONUMENT Architect: Superstudio Year: 1969-70

Italian architecture firm, Superstudio, known for their radical and evocative utopian projects that characterize architectural discourse to this day, came forward with a proposal for a monument during the late 1960s titled The Continuous Monument.

Never intended to be realized, this

project was developed as a reaction to the proliferation of the built environment following the Second World War10. Their model of total urbanization, manifested as a mega-monument that in time would fully engulf the world, was an investigation into the possibility of using architecture as a means of critique.

Through its monolithic, abstract architectural form, expressed through 10 Jonathan Glancey, “Superstudio: Life Without Objects, Design Museum, London SE1,” The Guardian, March 31, 2003, , accessed April 2, 2019.

the firm’s use of photomontage as the primary medium of representation, The Continuous Monument pushed to the extremes classical notions of the relationship between architecture, nature, city, and country.

Rem Koolhaas describes the project in the form of a narrative in the

short film titled Exodus. This radical narrative describes a world delineated into a “good half” and a “bad half”, eventually prompting its chaotic demise. In a desperate attempt to bring order back to the world, authorities of this imaginary world constructed the Continuous Monument. In its complete neutrality, devoid of any extraneous design, the super structure would be an agent of liberation for its inhabitants, freeing them from the excess brought about by modern architecture and design. A new relationship between urbanity and nature would be established, one not of opposition, but of hybridization and alliance11. In this way, 11 Exodus, dir. Rem Koolhaas (1972), December 23, 2017.

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TEATRO DEL MONDO Architect: Aldo Rossi Location: Venice, IT Year: 1979-80 The emergence of relations among things, more than the things themselves, always gives rise to new meanings.

-Aldo Rossi the project would mediate the chaotic disarray characteristic of the postwar urban sprawl and return the earth to a cosmic order in one, sweeping gesture.

Unlike many utopian schemes proposed by their contemporaries, Superstudio saw this unifying act as nurturing rather than obliterating the natural world12. Founding member of the firm, Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, describes “The only possibility for architecture is in its monumental extension. All the problems of quality of space, functional destination or sensibility have been removed. The Continuous Monument is not the simulation of a future situation, but works as a mental paradox, a critical project not buildable and therefore ‘negative’”13.

12 Jonathan Glancey, “Superstudio”.

13 Cristiano Toraldo Di Francia, “Continuous Monument,” Cristiano Toraldo Di Francia, July 21, 2015.

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Constructed for the 1979-80 Venice Biennale, architect Aldo Rossi brought to life his vision of a floating architecture. Inspired by the floating theaters of the 18th century that were favored during festivals, the formal simplicity and playful colors of Rossi’s floating theater suggest a dreamlike

other worldliness. Arguably his most famed work, the temporary cast iron and wooden structure embodied the architect’s infatuation with theater, event, and temporality, suggestive of his notion that niether architecture nor theater can exist independent of event. In this case, Rossi’s theater is not only a place to be watched, but one

to “observe and to be observed”14. This is apparant in the architect’s decision to place the theater on the water as a floating object, as well as the creation of

of the architecture’s limits in the domain of its functions by reimagining the static hierarchy of relationships between setting, event, spectator, and performer.

WRAPPED REICHSTAG Artists: Jeanne Claude and Christo Location: Berlin, DE Year: 1971-95 It is at once a work of art, a cultural event, a political happening and an ambitious piece of business.

a stage in the center of the seats within it rather than in front.

In this mediation of Rossi’s mystical architecture, traditional relationships between scene, spectator, and performer are reestablished as spectators of the show become the backdrop of the event and the city of Venice peers on through the windows of the upper balconies. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the ephemeral floating theater then sailed across the Adriatic visiting the ports of former Venetian colonies before it was ultimately dismantled15.

In its playful whimsy, Rossi’s Teatro Del Mondo challenged notions 14 John Hill, “Teatro Del Mondo,” Archidose, February 08, 1999.

15 Ibid.

-The New York Times

Jeanne Claude and Christo’s successful realization of their longawainted ambition of wrapping Berlin’s Reichstag in fabric was, in the words of a New York Times article, “at once a work of art, a cultural event, a political happening and an ambitious piece of business.”16

Having visited Berlin for the first time in 1976, Christo was drawn to the no-man’s-land that separated the East and West Berlin, particularly to its most prominent landmark--the Reichstag.

Germany’s parliament building, the grounds had been in disuse since

16 Paul Goldberger, “Christo’s Wrapped Reichstag: Symbol for the New Germany,” The New York Times, June 23, 1995.

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catching fire in 1933.17

Together, the two artists, known for their large-scale temporary land art installations, succeeded in wrapping the building with 100,000 square meters of thick woven polypropylene fabric with an aluminum surface using 15.6 kilometers of blue polypropylene rope.

In the short time it covered the edifice, an estimated five million people came to see it18

A write up in The New York Times shortly after the installation described the emergence of a new atmosphere surrounding the work, The surroundings of the Reichstag are largely quiet, at the edge of the bleak void in the

17 Digby Warde-Aldam, “Understanding Christo and Jeanne-Claude through 6 Pivotal Artworks,” Artsy, June 19, 2018, https://www. artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-understanding-christo-jeanne-claude-6-pivotal-artworks.

18 Oliver Wainwright, “How We Made the Wrapped Reichstag,” The Guardian, February 07, 2017, , https://www.theguardian.com/ artanddesign/2017/feb/07/how-we-made-thewrapped-reichstag-berlin-christo-and-jeanneclaude-interview.

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heart of Berlin left by the wall. The building looms over the Brandenburg Gate, more a shadowy mass in the distance than a part of the connective tissue of the city. Not the least of the accomplishments of the wrapping is to bring the Reichstag back into the mainstream of Berlin. An auto-free zone has been set up in the immediate area of the building, so the crowds are all on foot, making the area feel like a street fair. Cars, usually banned from passing under the Brandenburg Gate, are permitted to do so now to catch a distant glimpse of the wrapped building. All of Berlin seems, in a sense, to have responded to this urban transformation. 19

Fitting in with the theme of their innumerable other projects, Wrapped Reichstag was another attempt to reframe the spectator’s relationship to their immediate surroundings, instilling a stark awareness of place through each projects’ dramatic presence.

The duo’s signature of every installation is that they never exist for more than two weeks. Every one of their projects, including the Wrapped Reichstag, has been dismantled and recycled. In an interview with The Gaurdian, Christo explains, The city wanted to keep it up for longer, but we never let a work exist for more than two weeks.

If you don’t see it, you don’t see it. We will

19 Paul Goldberger, “Christo’s Wrapped Reichstag”.

never make another floating pier, never place another curtain across a canyon – and we will never wrap another parliament.20

Their insistance on the power of temporality as a tactic for generating event informs their use of fabric. As a medium, it translates the unique quality of impermanance that the two seek out.

Each of their installations has been an attempt to create art at monumental scale, temporarily transforming a natural or man-made landmark into an ephemeral spectacle. 21

20 Ibid.

21 Digby Warde-Aldam, “Understanding Christo and Jeanne-Claude”.

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METHODOLOGY + PROPOSAL

A monument is proposed that dĂŠrives about the world, causing chaos and surpise at every turn.

Devoid of all meaning, this ephemeral being promises only the inevitability of its sudden absence. Here today, gone tomorrow.

Operating beyond the realms of socio-political climates that dominate our world views, the monument provides an alternative metric by which the global community may begin to register difference. As we collectively bear witness to this unraveling of events, we are confronted with the possibility of infinite new situations that beg alternative engagements with our neighbors.

31

The monument must have no meaning.

The monument must always look the same.

The monument must not be habitable.

The monument must be enduring.

The monument must be alien.

The monument must be arbitrary.

The monument must be universal.

The monument must have no allegiance.

The monument must be dramatic.

The monument must be neutral.

The monument must be mysterious.

The monument must be reflective.

The monument must stand out.

The monument must be modest.

The monument must be a landmark.

The monument must amplify its context.

The monument must be a measure of difference.

The monument must be timeless.

The monument must be irrational.

The monument must be rational.

The monument must be a unifier.

sameness measures difference

The monument must have no meaning.

The monument must have complete autonomy.

The monument must always look the same.

The monument must not be habitable.

The monument must be ephemeral.

The monument must be enduring.

The monument must be alien.

The monument must be arbitrary.

The monument must be universal.

The monument must have no allegiance.

The monument must be dramatic.

The monument must self-deploy.

The monument must be neutral.

The monument must be mysterious.

The monument must be reflective.

The monument must stand out.

The monument must be modest.

The monument must be an actor.

The monument must be a landmark.

The monument must amplify its context.

The monument must be a measure of difference.

The monument must be entirely random.

The monument must be timeless.

The monument must be irrational.

The monument must be rational.

The monument must be a unifier.

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10 m

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self- deployment mechanisms

hollow space frame structure

tensile membrane

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screw pile foundations

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monument becomes catalyst for commerical capital in the town

a town-wide festival is inspired, lasting several weeks

adjacent streets are temporarily closed off for pedestrian-only access

8 months later...

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the void left behind prompts new development in the neighborhood

in its absence, a new climate within the town emerges

a collective decision is made to permanently designate a new pedestrian zone for the further establishment of town market infrastructures

2 years later...

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Greetings from :

55°01’13.4”N 82°53’38.8”E

Greetings from :

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Greetings from :

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34°00’00.0”N 111°00’00.0”W 30°

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the makeshift campsite that is established draws curious spectators eager to see the global anomaly for themselves

word spread quickly of the monument’s new location ; within hours of its arrival, tents were errected and weekend getaways planned

local cult followers of the monument are ecstatic over the new addition to their backyard

2 days later...

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as quickly as it came, the monument bid its farewell a mere 76 hours later

only a few fallen trees and the fond memory of a camping trip are all that remain 22 days later

22 days later...

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following the chaos of its dramatic arrival, the entire town gathered to help Walmart employees and authorities as they struggled to recuperate

the sleepy town of Pincher Creek never dreamed it would be the target of the next landing, let alone their local Walmart

as news stations aired the event live, the mayor of the town declared the day an official holiday, forever apart of Pincher Creek’s history

4 hours later...

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the Walmart remained open through the entirety of the monument’s 4 1/2 year stay

a “unique” Walmart

when it finally left, the town erected a replica of the monument’s base, permanently altering the store’s iconic architecture

7 years later...

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45°33'22.4"N 5°47'12.2"E

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45°33’22.4”N 5°47’12.2”E

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