The war on patina

[imomus]

Yesterday I really fell in love with Berlin again. I saw the Berlin Biennial, an event I thought I'd missed (it's been extended until June 5th). The art was pretty good, but in a sense it was upstaged by the city itself, and by patina. Curators Cattelan, Gioni and Subotnick found all sorts of spaces up and down Mitte's Auguststrasse; a cargo container, a gilded ballroom, several private apartments, some galleries, some post office stables... and a former Jewish School for Girls.



Here the patina was amazing. The art was arranged alongside communist-era didactic displays of notable Jews, peppy 70s and 80s graffiti, peeling paint and uneven plaster work, tiles and a vast range of fake brick, fake wood and floral wallpapers. Oh, and murals featuring Bertolt Brecht.

After seeing the biennial I went flathunting, ending up in Neukoln -- the only area where I could find decor shabby enough to satisfy my craving for patina, which is, finally, character, personality, history, texture. It's a familiar Berlin battle: how can you reach an area before the developers do, and how can you cling to a friendly bit of texture before some anally clean Germans define it as "dirt" and reduce it to a series of utterly bland, clean, neutral surfaces? "Sanierte", they call this in the lingo; re-organized, sanitized. Given Germany's history, the phrase has a sinister ring to it.

Berlin seems riven between the people who want historical monuments like the Volkspalast preserved, patina intact, and those who want them sanitized or razed. In the case of the former socialist "people's palace", the battle has been lost. It strikes me that this is also a battle between people who want expansion and economic development, and people who want characterful decay, decline, and a "slow life" somewhat protected from market forces. In other words, it relates to yesterday's question about demographics and the management of population decline.



In my last days in New York I visited the Parsons design department degree show. There was lots of excellent work, stuff about recycling and community-oriented design (a portable stoop people could sit on, for instance). The worst piece I saw, though, was a Communication Design piece by Hector Diaz called "The Effects of Spatial Design in New York Public High Schools".

"For the past 5 to 10 years," Diaz explained, "there has been a concern for students attending some New York City High Schools due to small graduation classes, low attendance and a lack of educational interest. My thesis conveys how through environmental design, combined with architecture, color and typography, students can unconsciously change the way their education is pursued."

Showing before-and-after pictures of a place very like the Former Jewish Girls' School, Diaz proposed changing a lovely, fusty building predominantly coloured in earth tones into a zingy electric blue-tinted educational freeway service station, complete with coffee franchise-style "motivational" graphics. I found his whole design-for-growth schtick dismal, sad and aesthetically offensive; a war on patina. He'll probably do very well.

Comments

[onthemoon.livejournal.com]

Here in the states, as you likely noticed while in NY (as it is probably one of the main staging grounds), there seems to be a real re-birth of the notion that newer is better; cold and characterless high-rise condomium buildings are making a comeback and considered far preferable to the city's many old and character-full brick and brownstone buildings, which for awhile were really winning folks over, especially in the backlash to our postwar urban renewal. It sometimes amazes me how easy of a sale it is to convince people that they need the cold clean look of glass and steel, greys and blues, sterile and sane.

I think the materials are key here, too, not just there patina (or history shown through aging), but their origin. Up until the mid-twentieth century buildings largely reflected their landscape in the materials from which they rise: brick, brownstone, limestone, sandstone, timber, stucco. They greatly define the character of the city; the feeling of the city. The new cities that rise do so almost entirely out of manufactured materials: glass, steel, cement, etc., and as such completely lose their precious materiality and reflect little more than whatever their perfectly policed facades of glass bounce back.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Agreed. It is worth saying, though, that glass has at least the potential to complement the landscape, either by reflecting it back or by letting the eye pass directly through the building to what's beyond. Of course, it's rarely used that self-effacingly; a new building tends to want to be a focal point, not a window.

[onthemoon.livejournal.com]

True. All materials have a lot of great potential, be they natural or manufactured, old or new. Sadly, though, as you point out, so few architects or developers seem interested in working with the existing landscape. It would be laughable, were it not so disheartening, reading Frank Gehry talk about he and Ratner's plans for the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, and how he "carefully considered the existing landscape." Of course it all boils down to ease and ego. Working with the existing landscape, and all the patina it has to offer, means looking outward and actually thinking about the world that will exist beyond their shiny new plot. And of course blending in with, or even complimenting the existing landscape would mean less attention for the new. It would be lovely to see some contemporary architecture focusing on sharing the landscape with the past (it does exist, but, perhaps for reasons just noted, is hard to find).

Another note on the recent boom of modern architecture and high-rise building...I suspect, be it conscious or unconscious, that a good deal of it is in response to seeing the development in East Asian countries (as well as Dubai). America feels the need to be in the lead, as does Europe to a lesser extent; not having the newest, tallest, and flashiest architecture is an admittance of falling behind in the eyes of many, not just in architecture, but all of the things our buildings represent. Of course that starts wading into far deeper conversational waters.

[nato-dakke.livejournal.com]

sanitiert, isn'a?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

But I may have brought some of the sense of "sanitiert" into my definition...

[nina-blomquist.livejournal.com]

i don't know if "sanized" is any better than "sanitized."

[(Anonymous)]

everything old was new once.
Get into too much patina and you end up distressing denim in search of some bogus authenticity nad character.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

True... one of things I love about Tokyo is the total disregard for preservation, respect for the past, etc. Or do I love the retro-80s patina that covers so much of the city? The 80s was the time Tokyo developed most, and it's going to preserve a fading version of 1980s architecture (those raked blocky apartment buildings, for instance, or pomo follies (http://www.imomus.com/dailyphoto201002.html)) for quite some time yet.

[wickedanima.livejournal.com]

I've always been particularly fond of 'patina' and 'character' myself. I find it disgusting for the most part that the whole 'Modern' mindset has always run over the old for the new. All the more disturbing because of the fact that my tastes run to excitement oppositely of the clean minimal factors, to the complex textures of history, dirt, cobwebs, and general character.

[larameau.livejournal.com]

speaking of biennials, let's hope they don't invite diaz to the next venice biennial - i am horrified at what he could do to the wonderfully shabby, decadent buildings in venice.

venice, the triumph of patina

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I must say that when I first saw the Whitney Biennial my heart sank a bit. It wasn't the art, it was the building. It just isn't the Arsenale, is it?

[larameau.livejournal.com]

one of the peculiarities of italian contemporary art shows is that they are often a combination of new text and old texture, i.e. innovative contemporary art gets shown in ancient spaces, just like the arsenale, or the grandiose "sala delle cariatidi" in milan's palazzo reale, which was deliberately left unrestored for a long time and used as an exhibition space, or even the ancient cellars and warehouses of medieval towns in central italy.
the only trouble may be that these places and architectures are so redolent in themselves that they distract the viewer's attention from the works, or add extra esthetic value to the works they contain - but personally, i don't see anything wrong with this. art is also an event, and as such it is ephemeral and context-bound.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I think the neutrality of the white cube is a Modernist anomaly. Most of the time art has had a context, stuff around it, often very gilded and ornate stuff. Of course, the white cube (seen as a Modernist anomaly) is also a context. The question then is, why should post-Modernist art be seen in a Modernist context (like Breuer's Whitney, for instance)? And when the Whitney has been made over by Renzo Piano (2008, I hear), will pomo art fit better in a pomo space?

[larameau.livejournal.com]

i think the clash of styles (modern vs. postmodern) and the mixture of old and new is postmodern by definition. indeed, the postmodern is closer to the ancient rather than the modern

what do you think, for instance, of this lucio fontana exhibit in central italy:

http://larameau.livejournal.com/808.html

and here are some pictures of the "sala delle cariatidi" i mentioned before:

http://larameau.livejournal.com/1056.html

p.s. i don't know how to insert images directly into the post, sigh!

MMM

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

Hello Momus.

Do you know much about this fellow (http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=778&csid1=5249)?

Re: MMM

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I've been hearing about him, and I like what I hear! I intend to buy "He Poos Clouds" as soon as I see a copy...

Re: MMM

[imomus.livejournal.com]

And now I realize that I played a show in Stockholm with his former band the Hidden Cameras in March 2004 (http://imomus.livejournal.com/2004/03/07/)...

Re: MMM

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I also had a para on his album title a month ago in The cute poop taboo (http://imomus.livejournal.com/191026.html).

Re: MMM

[freesurfboards.livejournal.com]

That whole thread must have been a clever advertisment, I went out and dug up his first album as soon as I read that . . .

Re: MMM

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

Me too. Anyone who can link Mishima and Morrissey is a man after my own heart.

Re: MMM

[rroland.livejournal.com]

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/f/final-fantasy/he-poos-clouds.shtml

rroland has a new fave!

[larameau.livejournal.com]

i remember i once thanked an italian actress for not hiding her beautiful wrinkles

somehow i always regret it when they restore an ancient building - the crusts, the peels, the faded patches, the different shades of brown, red and yellow, the fascinating patina created by the passing of time - all of this is lost

[imomus.livejournal.com]

i remember i once thanked an italian actress for not hiding her beautiful wrinkles

Nice... but you have to be careful with that kind of compliment. You never know, she might have spent a fortune on plastic surgery...

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

it might collapse though. einsturzende altbauten. back in london o'gara the old bastard, he used to piss in the sink.
all you could ever hear was: "ouch! ouch! bloody fleas." and he stood there like icarus. the bed feathers glued to his sweaty body.
i shouted:"stop coughing !!!!" the next day i received a complaint from the battersea citizen's advice bureau. case number 154 (no joke). olivetti from hell.
signed by sandra wax. you get a little palace in turkey for about 50 grand brand spanking new. loadsa sunshine. good food. fantastic music.

elegant slumming my arse. not for me anymore.

[nicepimmelkarl.livejournal.com]

hi karl...how are you?

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

The modernist strip-lit, barren, plastic vision of the future is bankrupt. No one wants banality multiplied on that scale. New futures, please.

Eighteenth-century houses were more advanced in their construction in one sense: the brick and mortar were softer, more porous, and would "breathe", dissipating moisture and mold. People often now unwittingly destroy these buildings when they "repair" the mortar with modern cement, which is notoriously non-porous and relatively impermeable to water. So when the house continues to breathe and settle naturally, the "hard zone" caused by the cement with stay in place, and crack the old english or flemish laid brickwork to pieces.

Organisms need organisms to live in.

Plants. More plants!

[freesurfboards.livejournal.com]

I think that modern buildings are made not to last - since we are living in a time of plenty it makes more business sense to build something which will eventually degrade and then build it again 30 years down the road. Most people know little about the construction about their own homes so they don't know the difference.
The trouble is, what happens when this time of plenty doesn't last?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Well, that's certainly the case in Japan: buildings there are so flimsy because

a) earthquakes are half-expected at any moment.

b) Buddhism stresses the impermanence of all things.

c) The land the structure stands on is always worth much more than the structure itself, which is easily remade according to the new land-owner's specifications.

d) Few planning regulations or conservation orders to speak of.

It's always interesting to me how easily patina can be re-applied, though. For instance, kudzu can achieve pretty much instant patina. I'm just waiting for them to grow kudzu on the facade of Omotesando Hills... (http://imomus.livejournal.com/148183.html)

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Problem is, once you introduce kudzu, you have it forever. It is such an aggressive plant that it flattens out the variety of species wherever it grows. Better to go with a variety of ivys and plants, each situated on the buildng in accordance with the amount of sunlight they require--a building that hosts a small ecosystem. A cascading hydroponic glass surface covered in plants would be wonderful. Bog gardens inside of the sunny concourses would provide warmth from the decomposing plant matter in the peat.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

I've said this here in the past, but I find that most modernist structures are designed in a vacuum, and do not take into consideration the basic fact that all things decay and degenerate. This should be anticipated at the beginning design stages. Most modernist structures start to look like cheap, discarded toys soon after they have been completed. A more organic mindset should be embraced, the result being buildings that take in the natural processes around them, and age gracefully.

[desant012.livejournal.com]

Organic? Nah. Let's lay down gigantic cubes of concrete and put a door in it somewhere - now that's the good stuff.

Permanent schmermanent; it's washable!

[(Anonymous)]

Glass and aluminum age very well (but panina poorly) thanks; it's reglazing 11-ton elements that sneaks a bit in anyhow. In hospitals a peach glazing dye read as errant blood by a dotty director.... So often it's bluish; pearlescent dyes have not been age proven for more than 15 years yet....

It is explicitly a liability (nevermind risk management) function in any of the Americas or other place with burghs, as you like! There was a phase in the '90s where glass fronts facing a selection of garden elements, with pas-relief panels was taking off, and too reliably some amicus ars (with special relevance lent; later discerned to stem from Hell, not Croesus) would find fault:
-Actual clinical, field OR uses, found wanting
-Bas relief, nonetheless discovered editable to distaste of current reviewers (how now; proven complementarity/reversability?)
-General paranoia about passability of dirt and plant material (soak them in feminism and palmolive and call them out?)

Happy playing-through.

[desant012.livejournal.com]

Maybe there's affection for patina because, at least in the West, most of us were born or grew up during one of the worst periods of neglect and undevelopment in the 20th century (the 70s, early 80s).

Something's still in my heart for rotting, dying, forgotten cities, having lived in one as a kid - of course, they're in reality pretty tragic.

[rob.rabiee.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I read a fascinating book about Fellini back in college that related an anecdote I've held very close to my heart.


Fellini came to Hollywood to work on a picture, sometime in the early 1960s; this was a big deal, the greatest genius of European film deigning to make a Hollywood movie. Anyway, they stuck him in an office: a small, miserable office, white-washed walls, small window, whole deal, to write. He spent a week in this office trying to work on a new screenplay, to no avail. Flabergasted, he quickly realized that he needed some sense of history in his work environment in order to feel comfortable and productive. He went to the producers, and requested an older building: one (in Momuspeak) that would have the proper texture.

They took him to an office in another building on the lot that looked exactly the same. He was shocked and confused. When he showed disdain for the new quarters, the worried producers cried, "But Mr. Fellini, this is the oldest building on the lot! It's fifty years old!" He left and, if I'm getting the chronology right, started working on Juliet of the Spirits.

"Sigh. America. Sigh."

(And with a dramatic flourish the young man hit 'Post Comment.' Fin.)

[cheapsurrealist.livejournal.com]

I can't remember who originaly came up with this design, I think Maybeck was in on it. But they're generally called "Stadelhofers". He's the guy at Berkley Pump who figured out the method of pouring the concrete around the glass blocks. They were built around the 30's and they never caught on for residential design. But they built a lot of wharehouses down in my nieghborhood.

Artists like to live in Stadelhofers. They let in a lot of light.

Beautiful things can be done with concrete.


But for patina you can't beat wood.


That renewable resouce we forgot to renew.