Really Bad Art

As I promised earlier, I would be posting some of my most ghastly “art”. It’s not really that, It’s more like doodling and then using watercolours to produces something shockingly bad. But somehow, that’s okay. I could go on about what I actually meant by that piece, although it is quite pointless as the piece itself is pointless. Here it is.

If you actually like it (which I can’t imagine why) or are simply curious and wander: is there “art” out there that’s actully worse/ as bad as this? I think so, and here is one of my all-time favourite websites: museumofbadart.org. So there it is, they show many of their best pieces on line. It’s such a pity they’re located in the US. But when I do visit the US, this will be one of the places I must simply see. Enjoy.

May your art be better than mine (I’ll keep trying though, so don’t be too relieved; I hope to get better at it, eventually).

Peter S

Of MAT-Buildings, Madonna, Brutalism, Futility, Boredom, Work& Being Alone

There’s been a lot going through my head since the beginning of year 2009. It’s best that I get it all out right now, otherwise, if I try to write something coherent, it will be painfully embarrassing, like the five entries that are in my Drafts section, waiting to either be updated and de-embarrassed or deleted. I don’t really want anyone to see them in the state they’re in.

Anyways, for the past couple of months (since October actually, but the madness is slowly escalating), I have been obsessed with Alison & Peter Smithson, Team 10, and The New Brutalism. I know that the realized architectural output of the Smithsons is rather limited, and that 90% of their stuff is just ghastly. I mean, they’re the most gruesome-looking buildings ever. But I will talk about that later, maybe in another entry. Naturally, I am totally excited about Mat-buildings, a concept developed in the 1970’s. I want to make my design for this semester into a mat-building.

Then there’s Madonna. My unhealthy obsession with someone who could easily be my mother one and a half times is not really going anywhere, it’s just frustrating. No new videos (Give it 2 Me was OK, but compared to old-school stuff from roughly 1989-1995, it’s crap), And the tour, which I though was finally over is getting extended just as I was getting anxious to purchase the rumoured live album. OK, that’s all about that damned bitch for now.

Then there’s always the realization that I used to write more-or-less funny things, but now any humor seems unintentional, awkward and unfunny (Just like JK Rowling, really). I am finally sensing that my true calling lies within the world of academia. From the latest exams, I got quite good grades, namely 8.3 from urbanism and 9.8 from Architecture (both out of 10). Academia here I come. Sadly, the only good thing is the amount of vacation. Half of my time is spent on doing nothing, the other half on catching up and pondering why my schedule is so full. Damn me!

To top it all off, my family deserted me to go skiing for the upcoming week, which is OK, at least the cats are here. But as mostly I spend my time talking, having no-one to talk to is really uncomfortable, and talking to myself and/ or an imaginary friend is not an option, since I ain’t that crazy yet.

Work is fine, There is however one thing that I find really weird. I’m basically working on a regular piece called “Streets of BK City”. I just run around the faculty with a tape recorder, and ask people their opinion on some current (or not) issue. When I wasn’t working for them, they used to ask questions like: “Do you think that faculty should be opened 24/7?” Now I asked “Do you think there are any (unwritten) design rules that limit/direct students?” WTF? You can’t answer that with two sentences like the former. Apart from that, all is swell.

OK, as a bonus, I’ll recollect this dream I had on Thursday. Basically, my best friend’s grandfather was killed by his wife, who ran off with their Japanese neighbor. She stabbed him with a knitting needle repeatedly. I tried to object to this notion by saying it’s nonsense, seing how his wife (in real life) died before he did (he is also dead now, God rest their souls). When I said this, my aunt and grandmother started nagging me about being insensitive and they showed me the pictures from the crime scene on my grandmother’s laptop (WTF?, she’s computer illiterate). I won’t describe the state of the body, only that it made me sick to look at it.

So there, my dreams might not be frequent, but when it comes to being bizzare, they’re definitely up there.

In the next few entries, we could discuss Kollhoff, Eames-es, Smithsons and my very own terribly awful art. And very possibly the … Movie franchise.

Until then, may the force be with you.

Peter

Of Acconci, Hertzberger, Full Moons and Mingling (Architectural Positions, 5/2/2009)

While other people are out on a Thursday night (some people are out EVERY night), I stayed in. Or rather at. At the faculty. Now that Bouwkunde is off and rolling (again), someone decided it was finally safe to invite a foreign guest (Vito Acconci- artist/architect from New York). The Lecture Room A was packed and some incredibly young people gave a presentation on a book they edited. Basically they have written introductions for the book and collected essays by all the famous people, at least in the architectural world, like the Smithsons, Kahn, Koolhaas, Hadid, the Kriers.

So, I shall not bore my readers with the accounts of the actual book presentation, which was done quite sub-par. It’s not that they didn’t know what to say, it’s just that they read it off a piece of paper and there was very little spontaneity and fun, which I believe is necessary, even when dealing with the issues of public space and modernity.

However, the two guest speakers made up for the rather bland start. Vito Acconci, the New York based Artist/architect, who really wants to prove that he really is an architect, read some passages from his essay, which I would sum up as: we are living in an increasingly alienated world where people seem not to want too much interaction. However, through his lecture, it seemed as though Acconci sneakily put spaces in which contact, however brief and superficial, can be achieved. His work consists of spatially manipulated blobs, which have a logic of their own (who knew?). And although I’m not a big fan of blobitecture, I totally dug his proposal for the traffic light/ street lighting/ and-so- much-more pole

Then it was time for Hertzberger’s lecture. I tell you, the man is incredibly tiny and speaks with a German accent (although he’s Dutch). He didn’t show his work, which compared to the very attractive and often high-tech blobs that Acconci proposes would look a little old fashioned. He however pleaded for more attention to public space, giving a convincing lecture that to the contrary of the popular opinion, people do need and use well designed public space. He ended up saying that architects should mainly design for children. If something works well for a child, it will work for any adult, which cannot be said vice versa. During Hertzberger’s lecture a couple of guys decided to show the room two full moons. I think it was rather sad. Hertzberger didn’t see it as he was addressing the audience, but Acconci, our foreign guest, imported all the way from New York probably got the full blast of it, as by that time he was sitting in the audience.

After the lectures ended, with no questions in the audience (traditionally Delft-ish), we were offered snacks and drinks. Everyone began to mingle, but me. I wonder, is my mingling mechanism broken, or is it because there was no-one from my year, and the only person in the room I actually knew was Dino, my B_Nieuws colleague? I promise that I will practice mingling during Indesem  (International Design Seminar here in Delft), where Hertzberger, Riedijk and Kaan will be giving lectures.

PS: A short note on Indesem: Once upon a time they had Peter Smithson over, and many other people from Team 10. When Koolhaas was still in Delft (and not in Harvard or wherever the hell he is now) he also did a bit. I am looking forward to a lecture from Hertzeberger, but can’t we get somone really cool, intellectual and BRUTAL from some FOREIGN land to come to us. Please?

Peter S

Apologize

I’m not the one to start moaning about privacy, not only do I have nothing major to hide (except maybe two or three things), but my life is so uneventful that nobody really cares. Although I must commend the society of having ideals and hopes, at times the pressure that media, businesses and basically the society in general puts on an individual is just too much.

Recently, Micheal Phelps, the Olympic swimmer, and as I have come to understand a role model for young Americans, has been caught on camera holding a marijuana pipe. Whether he was using it remains debatable, although he has apologized. Apologized for what? If all the people who ever smoked marijuana had to apologize, the word ’sorry’ would suffer higher inflation that Zimbabwe (no really: DOWN with Mugabe). OK, if Mr Phelps said: ” So what?”, I would consider him way cooler.

This is not about marijuana or sportsmanship. This is about people having control of their lives. Which these people certainly don’t. Like Miley Cyrus, the Hannah Montana chick, who’s apologized twice, once for not wearing a seatbelt in car during her show, and once for those bare-ish pictures.  Again, this is a person who is controlled by Disney (corporation, I like to add) and whose sole purpose is to sell stuff. And since no parent will buy their children stuff (really there is no nicer word for it) endorsed by a ‘bad’ role model, these people must do as they are told by their sponsors.

I understand these individuals have a living to make, and I think it’s good when they realize their mistakes, but you can never know whether they really are sorry. If Mr Phelps is really sorry and regrets this act, he should have gone quietly and done X hours of public service. I think that any idol, be it a pop star, movie star, sports star, politician, etc. has something skeletons in the closet. It’s just the question of how one deals with it. Barack Obama has admitted doing marijuana and other drugs and said it was his greatest failure. That’s learning from your mistake. It’s much more honest than someone saying: I’m sorry, after getting a slap on the wrist from your producers.  He has nothing to be sorry about, as long as nobody got hurt and he himself learn a valuable lesson that has enabled him to become who he is. Obama’s drug abuse doesn’t make him any less role model, and doesn’t take away any of his accomplishments (well, he’s just president for not even a month, but you get the point). Neither does Phelps’s alleged drug abuse take away from his accomplishments.

Be defiant for as long as you can. But don’t be defiant for the sake of being defiant, do it because you believe that people should have control over their lives.  You might not get to be a role model, but who can be a role model these days. I suppose the only full proof role model is the Virgin Mary. One, she gave birth to the son of God even though it implied her life would be threatened, two: it’s been far tto long for anyone to dig up any dirt on her. Although some might claim that getting pregnant without being properly married is not being a good role model. And on the circle goes.

Peter