To some, it seemed an unlikely fit, Gehry designing a memorial honoring Ike, but that impression was always based on two misunderstandings. There is a vulgar idea that Gehry is all about flamboyant buildings, radical structures acclaimed by critics but derided by common sense. The popular perception of Ike is no more accurate. — washingtonpost.com
9 Comments
now that is some good longform journalism....
"There is a vulgar idea that Gehry is all about flamboyant buildings"
With that quote and a few more like it in the article I wonder if some people enjoy not liking things. I also wonder why the word conservative occurs somewhere near the these types of quotes.
I thought the slideshow of the firm's previous/early work an interesting context for an argument in support of his work for a monumental. The images really push the flamboyant/dancing buildings angle, seems to me....
That was an excellent article. The slideshow is the first time I've really understood the urban context of this memorial, and OMG I love it completely now! it makes a wonderful outdoor room, and the narrative opportunities of the tapestries are great. Bringing a kid to this memorial will be fun, as they'll be able to have a level of understanding one doesn't get with a Classical building or a simple figurative statue (the MLK statue, for example).
Granted, the Lincoln memorial is highly effective, but it's a huge figure on a huge axis. This comparatively little urban space with no long vista will be excellent as a less formal memorial.
I think arguably Eisenhower's most important legacy was the interstate highway system - which I think has had the greatest impact on the American landscape and economy. To me, how the ghost-like imagery on the tapestries is treated reminds one of what was lost during this era, and the columns are the same scale as highway infrastructure. I don't know if this was intentional, but to me it's a very somber memorial. I think it would be even more somber if they included imagery of the people in the communities that were intentionally destroyed due to this policy, and the subsequent decline, disenfranchisement, and increasing inequality within many cities and rural towns in the name of greater economic prosperity. It's something that I think we as a nation haven't really come to terms with - and probably not something people who are putting together this memorial would like reflected upon.
I think the criticism is gehry and the memorial is really odd - people who are against it want some kind of vaguely phallic war memorial - or they don't like gehry's other work because it's "flamboyant"... but no one is really talking about the actual legacy of this presidency - whether or not this is something we should be celebrating.
I also wonder why the word conservative occurs somewhere near the these types of quotes.
Because the NCAS is a conservative institution. Whatever most of us may think of Gehry aside, one look at the roster of "critics" and we can surmise their hidden agenda. Classical propoganda should have no voice in this matter. Frank will build this one.
Revisions unveiled.
Looking at the National Mall as a whole, and observing which of the monuments people spend the most time lingering at and revisiting, the most successful are the most ambiguous and decidedly modern - the Vietnam and FDR memorials. These allow for opportunities that the other more "classical" monuments do not. One doesn't linger and contemplate much at the Lincoln, Jefferson or Washington memorials, primarily because these have become icons of what a "memorial" is/was supposed to be for some people. A stoic reminder of a particular person that has been reduced to a simplified and easily identifiable 'Founding Father' symbol. But like anything detached from the moment, the memorial becomes simply a statue of a forgotten event. How many people do you know that have been to Titanic memorial in SW D.C. let alone knew there was one?
The Vietnam memorial was the first to reconcile the complexities of emotions that are inherent in any memorial and also presented a moment when America was reconciling itself to the complexities and ambiguities of that particular war. None of the complexities of those 3 presidents is apparent, nor would we say, necessary. Yet for presidents like FDR and DDE, the contemporary interpretations are far more complex considering that there are living relatives that have had a hand in defining the memorials and the political complexities in which they operated.
Nothing can be said that would make me think the WW2 memorial is / was / and will continue to be a lost opportunity for the National Mall. Nothing about that memorial conjures the scale of the conflict (its abstractions in bronze stars fails miserably at this) the heavy-handed Speerian feel of the monument, it's failure to illicit any sort of response from veterans and citizens alike. It's 'success' a result of location only.
Another contemporary failure in memorial design is the Oklahoma City Bombing memorial in which the victims families had too much influence. Where it's gates and blank space frame a moment in time with absence and the cast empty chairs reminders of the lost lives, the chaining off of the chairs and oppressive feel of separating the chairs from the observer reduces the desire to pause and contemplate. Instead one almost feels as if they should hurry through lest the Park Ranger pester you for loitering.
I'm still undecided about the current version of the DDE memorial. I find the tapestries lame at best. Oversized imagery trying to create a link to Dwight's childhood home comes off a bit chintzy and the intent of creating an urban room fails. It's like a bad version of Christo's 'The Gates'. I'll reserve further criticism until I see it in person but from the flyover video and 3d images provided by Gehry, but I'm not overly impressed.
I will give him kudos for making it through the grindhouse they call the memorial approval & review "process" there in D.C. though.
Christo = 1 dollar in pennies is nothing, but, 1,000,000 dollars in pennies, now you got something.
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