Labelling the festival an ‘expensive dance of death’, the Coop Himmelb(l)au-founder went on to claim a ‘great’ biennale would have featured forums and themes looking ‘behind the scenes’ at decision-making ‘instead of boring exhibitions’. — The Architects' Journal
Better source at Building Design, but their need for registration denies access to many.
20 Comments
This guy is still wild, love it.
Indeed. The architecture biennale is a wildly overrated event.
Yo!
An exhibition that is actually critical about the politics (or even the economics) behind architecture? unprecedented. I always thought these things were fashion shows.
agree with him 100%.
although - wouldn't wolf prix's buildings classify as "expensive dances of death?"
having just come back from venice where I moderated several panel discussions on the behind the scenes making of interventions at the US Pavilion, I think Prix is sucking on some sour grapes. yes, it is a bit of a bougie indulgence in prosecco, but that doesn't lessen the impact of discourse.
yes, it is a bit of a bougie indulgence in prosecco, but that doesn't lessen the impact of discourse.
Yes it does. It is why architects have failed society and become useless to the average human. It lessens the impact we have on the world because it pushes us further into an exclusive club, which is really just a whore house for the rich and the empire elites. Mental masterbation at its finest.....Maybe when they are done playing with themselves they can figure out how to serve the 7 billion other people on the planet, oh and what about them polar bears floating around on little ice rafts..............Meanwhile in another dimension...........
actually jla-x, the US Pavilion brought together in person 40 young architects, designers, artists, and urban planners in conversation... with 124 total represented in the exhibition... who are working on the, if you will, small-a side of architecture. all projects were actualized and gave agency to the communities where they were sited... so I take exception to the mental masturbation remark. as for the polar bears... see the greenland pavilion and BIG on the colonization of territory after the caps melt.
I have no doubt that good ideas are plentiful. Ideas ideas.....a dime a dozen nowadays. The context of the actual debate is the issue, not the content. The steps of washington would be a better start, even a local pub would have a greater effect. We need to get out of the clubhouse and start making some of these ideas a reality because the ice isn't gonna wait. To do this we need to infiltrate the public discourse, because if no one hears you it dosen't matter. Thats my point.
To add.....When was the last time you heard any media outlet talking about any of these issues. We are isolating the public.
ha, if Wolf Prix did that he wouldn't have a job.
It's like a fucking culinary festival in somalia....
death and Venice.....ugggh....
He is a known crony. Unless him or his buddies are involved, he won't look any further. His opinions are his opinions. Smoke cigars, talk to Zaha, 3 of Peters(exclude Zumthor), Thom, Moss, Lynn and others.., life is good.
Actually I am glad he called it boring. Because as soon as their interests are not mentioned in conversations, they call them boring. It shows the world is moving away from these -form uber alles- type shape nazis and actually starting to talk about 'things that matter' to people and architecture.
He is the one who is boring now.
It seemed kind of cool that somebody openly criticized the Biennale for being “out-of-touch” with the world (whatever that means coming from an architect), but then you realize that the guy who is criticizing it is also part of the problem…the problem is all this spectacle of the media jumping around every time one of these spoiled septuagenarians want to blast one of their colleagues… while they keep on designing the same buildings for the same clients, competing in the same “competitions” invited by the same people, and teaching in the same money making schools around the world… bourgeoisie blasting bourgeoisie…
Pierre Cardin to the rescue!
"French designer Pierre Cardin outlined his plan on Monday for a 255-metre tower called the Palais Lumiere that he wants to build in an industrial port area on the famous Venice lagoon.
'I want to offer Venice a big garden for eternity,' the Italian-born Cardin told reporters in the city, where some locals are horrified by the project."
(image via theage.com.au)
Yo!
That sums it up pretty well^
smh
He is a known crony. Unless him or his buddies are involved, he won't look any further. His opinions are his opinions. Smoke cigars, talk to Zaha, 3 of Peters(exclude Zumthor), Thom, Moss, Lynn and others.., life is good.
he's been part of the elite ever since that infamous 1988 MOMA show - his bullshit is not subversive politically/formally/whatever - He is the status quo.
Actually I am glad he called it boring. Because as soon as their interests are not mentioned in conversations, they call them boring. It shows the world is moving away from these -form uber alles- type shape nazis and actually starting to talk about 'things that matter' to people and architecture.
damn straight. the highly cynical and socially passive era of architectural discourse (and its empty formalism) is finally winding down. My hope is that we don't swing too far back toward the blind technocracy of the modern movement.
Maybe IT needed some more parametric paper cutouts and digitally printed models out of plastic wire to tell us the future of architecture. If only we could speak to the nature of nature by making useless models modeled in Rhino. Then we could have a meaningful discourse about the "inherent complexities and modalities of parametricism and extract their potential performative characteristics" to make dramatically lit dioramas for gallery exhibitions. Because that kind of belly-button staring masturbation will help lift architecture out of its irrelevance.
Meanwhile, many of the no-name American participants will return home and continue their local / guerrilla / community based architecture & design in attempts to make the everyday better for the regular people in the world.
You like doing layouts for Target?
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