Inversion of the Panopticon: I see you looking at me looking at you

As we flounder in the chaos of this nascent age of digital documentaries, the occasion has come to reevaluate two truism of bygone times.  First, Surveillance stimulates rehabilitation.  Second, The omniscient eye of Sauron, Big Brother, squelches freedom.  The tragedy/atrocity in Ferguson, and the government reaction, reveals the overlooked obverse of Bentham and Orwell.  Stepping back, it is interesting to observe that the proposal for the panopticon was born from optimism and trust in human nature. Public accountability and sufficient time to contemplate the Good News mends a broken, twisted soul. Conversely, Orwell sketched a dystopian Britain born of distrust of hominid's natural tendency to seek mischief and cause harm.  Left on his own, the life of an East End boy is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.  We continue to ignore the East End hominid's penchant for cave painting, ritual burial, and crafting jewelry (for now let's ignore the pregnant revelation that homo neanderthalensis made and wore make-up).

Turn the panopticon inside out.  The persistent surveillance of the jailer promotes justice, nay, liberty. No space evades the eye of the captive criminal so no abuse of authority goes unobserved.  Equilibrium.  Without hominids digitally recording the actions of the police in Ferguson, the death of Micheal Brown would be a mere twinkle of a star, ominous and quickly forgotten in a field of black.

In response, police departments across the country have invested in digitizing every moment of the work of police ("Nobody wants to be that cop from Ferguson").  Orwell forgotten, the justification cited is that complaints of abuse by police dramatically drop when they are accountable for each word and action.

Kafka's Castle, Like Hell, a Place You Can Visit

Richardo Bofill's "Castle", 1968

In 1926, Franz Kafka introduced us to K. and his sisyphean struggle against bureaucracy.  The Castle has become a cultural metaphor for how government can make the most simple of tasks impossible.  In the practice of law, one makes frequent visits to the Castle.  Most recently, I spent 4 months trying to obtain a payoff amount on a Medicare subrogation claim (basically, I was trying to give the government money I had collected for them).  Despite the clear understanding that the "Castle" is a bad thing, Ricardo Bofill  of Taller de Arquitectura designed and built an apartment building inspired by the Castle.  The project was as experiment in construction without a plan.  Instead of a plan, the design was a formula: a series of cubes radiating from the center with each cube representing a different space.

Hell on Cayman Is.

So, if you want to visit the Castle, then head to Sant Pere de Ribes in Spain.  Likewise, if want to visit Hell, head to the Caymans.  

The Hole Building and The Ancient Liangzhu Bi

Th "Hole" Building in the Chinese city of Guangzhou

Some of the most interesting architecture is happening in Asia.  The sudden and tremendous growth in wealth has provided Asian corporations with the capital and confidence to build outside the traditional box.  Tradition and homogeneity, important principals of Confucian social order, have been set aside for  creativity and bold expression.  The Guangdong Plastics Exchange building or the "Hole Building,"as it is being called, attempts to merge tradition and modern engineering.  The "hole" design is based on an ancient Chinese artifact, the bi.  A bi is a jade disc from the neolithic Liangzhu culture ( 3000-2000 BCE).  Considering that the building is dedicated to a modern commodity, plastic, the reference to jade, an ancient commodity of great value in China, is appropriate.  Unfortunately, many have associated the building's design with the shape of Chinese coins which have a hole in the middle.  Thus for some, the building looks like a giant symbol of money.

A jade Bi.

Ice Church: ideal home for the "Frozen Chosen"

God's Igloo

A chilling monument to religion has been constructed in Mitterfirmiansreut.  The tradition of the Ice Church goes back to 1911 when local villagers constructed a church of snow as a worship site because they did not have a permanent church in the area.  The most recent manifestation of winter worship was intended to be completed in time for Christmas, but global warming dampened construction efforts.  "God's Igloo," as it is known locally, is a Catholic place of worship, but a sanctuary of ice seems equally appropriate for Presbyterians, aka "the Frozen Chosen."

Pixilated Cloud or Terror Attack: Art imitates life

The Cloud, rendition.

Rotterdam based architectural firm MVRDV has come under attack for the design of a building to be constructed in Seoul, Korea.  The Cloud, a two tower structure connected at the 27th floor by a "pixilated cloud," evokes the destruction of the World Trade Center.  To be honest, if the building can be constructed as designed, it would be fantastic.  The only draw back is the allusion to death and destruction. 

MVRDV denies any intentional connection between the design of the Cloud and the attack on the twin towers.  "It was not our intention to create an image resembling the attacks nor did we see the resemblance during the design process. We sincerely apologize to anyone whose feelings we have hurt, it was not our intention." 

The Cloud, concept drawing.

Setting aside the potential for a grim trend in architecture, could a building designed as an homage to the destruction of iconic architecture be beautiful and inspirational in a non-offensive way?  Instead of seeing the Cloud as a monument to the destruction of life and art, embrace the design as a provocative comment on the ability of architecture to transform the gruesome into the beautiful.  If the building is to be built as a memorial, it should be in New York.

Tower of Lego Babel in Brazil

Thousands of industrious Brazilian children have come together to break the record for the largest Lego tower.  102 feet tall.  500,000 Lego bricks.  And, they built it without using the pictures on the box or the packaged instructions.

"White Bronze" Eagles of McLennan County

KWTX article from 9/2/2010

Today, the eagles perched atop the McLennan County Courthouse were unceremoniously removed.  The plan is to replace the eagles with replicas cast in aluminum.  Some time ago, a good friend of mine told me that the eagles were made of cast zinc and had red lights for eyes.  Distracted by the image of an eagle-of-justice watching my every move with its glowing red eyes, I ignored the curious fact that they were made of zinc.  Zinc... how strange.  In the 1850's, zinc became the commodity of choice for the cast sculpture... cheap cast sculpture.  Zinc ore was plentiful worldwide and thus cheap to obtain.  The melting point for zinc is low, 787.15 F, thus the facility and equipment needed to cast large sculptures was much less expensive than for bronze or cast-iron casting.  Cast-iron was relatively cheap as a material, but zinc does not rust: an important quality for public sculptures.  Wanting to improve the perception of zinc as an artistic medium, foundries and cemetery monument makers renamed zinc "white bronze."  After a short period exposed to the elements, zinc-oxide forms on the surface of the monument, protecting the zinc underneath and creating a white patina.  see Zinc Sculpture in America, 1850-1950, By Carol A. Grissom, and White Bronze Grave Marker

Photo by M. Johnson

Construction Contracts, Medieval Style

1340 Contract for reconstruction of
the Sansedoni Palace in Siena.

This Friday will be my first time to lecture on Romanesque and Gothic architecture after completing a degree in law.  Reviewing my lecture from a couple of years ago, I thought it would be interesting to research what a medieval construction contract looks like.  The oldest contract I have found concerns the a Gothic renovation of the Sansedoni Palace in Siena.  The contract is dated 1340.  The most intriguing aspect of the contract is that over half of the .5m x 1.2m document is an illustration of the proposed façade.  The text of the contract is not dissimilar from modern contracts.  The first paragraph identifies the parties and purpose of the contract.  The second paragraph describes what will be constructed.  The following paragraphs address the financial terms and period for construction.  The contract includes a description of the funds placed in escrow and is signed by the parties and third party sureties.  

Sansedoni Palace today.

For more information, see Toker, Franklin, "Gothic Architecture by Remote Control: An Illustrated Building Contract of 1340.  The Art Bulletin.  Vol. 67, No. 1 (March 1985).  pp 67-95.