Neo-Oppressive Artists
February 20, 2005OK I know City Journal is a conservative magazine but I read this in an article bashing The Gates in Central Park:
For all the cant about the artist as a liberator of the human spirit,
there is much in contemporary art and especially architecture that
seeks to impose upon individuals the artist’s vast ego and confine them
within it, so that they cannot escape his will. It is this whiff of
totalitarianism that makes Polish intellectuals label such architecture
“neo-oppressionism.”
there is much in contemporary art and especially architecture that
seeks to impose upon individuals the artist’s vast ego and confine them
within it, so that they cannot escape his will. It is this whiff of
totalitarianism that makes Polish intellectuals label such architecture
“neo-oppressionism.”
And it reminded me instantly of Lars von Trier’s films. Specifically Dogma, but it can go for all of them. The other thing that came to mind was the MIT Stata center, which people who actually have to work there are complaining about.
i saw the gates twice (with and without snow) this weekend. but have you seem the
somerville gates?
btw, the gates are nothing too amazing. but i loooooove the stata center.
oy, the stata center is a monstrosity that, from what i hear, is in many ways impractical for actual use. and actually dangerous when snowy.
James Howard Kunstler made some good points about the Stata Center in one of his Eyesore of The Month posts:
http://www.kunstler.com/eyesore_200405.html
Essentially it seems to be a building that’s interesting from a distance, and the right angle, but not totally practical, or good, outside of those narrow parameters.