Saturday, December 10, 2011

Since I Can't Actually Talk Right Now, I'm Just Going to Post a Lot Today

Story from Gawker
Renderings from Talkitect


One of my friends posted this to facebook, and so now you can go read the Gawker story, and then read the Talkitect story, and then we can talk about this. But we're going to talk about it here and not on facebook, cause facebook acts like a prism. It catches the immense complexity that is your personality, and breaks it down into easily digestible and simplistic singular features. Like, you're a misogynist at this moment. Or you're a illogical patriot. Or you are a sentimental fool who is overly attached to pets he doesn't actually own. Facebook is like being drunk and 12 all the time.

Now, there are two ways we can have this argument. The first way is you can tell me that you just don't like this design, by itself, for no other reason, and I will probably try to tie in the idea of saving ground space, mention a nostalgic association with Tetris, you'll call it trite and probably know more about architecture than me, we'll agree to disagree.

The second way is you tell me this design is offensive because it looks like 9/11...
After my head explodes, and I take a moment to compose myself, so I don't start ranting to you about my own personal political beliefs about global warfare, after I bite my tongue straight through to resist screaming to you about how offended I am by what you assholes did to my country in the name of Homeland Security, which is by the way The Most Creepy Name for Anything Besides The Cloud, then here's what I have to say about this building.

First of all, I think it's pretty. I think it's the kind of building that I would go and eat my lunch under, and stare up at the pixel windows and the little cube corners. It looks like it could fall on me at any moment, and all the splinters of the corners would slice like falling icicles but shatter and then melt, sort of like ice bullets? and I love that. The inside renderings look amazing too. I would want to live in this building. Maybe, since it's gonna be in Korea, someday I can.

Second, here is what I don't understand about 9/11. I get why it's a big deal for the people who lived in NYC, and the people who had family and friends involved, or people they loved in the military. It was a terrible tragic thing that happened. But it was not the first, the last, or the worst terrible tragic thing, and it doesn't really affect me that much. Maybe this is a generational thing, but I don't feel a difference between hearing about a bombing in NYC versus a bombing in Dubai or London. I have the same number of friends in London currently that I do in NYC. If I don't actually think about it, the distance from me feels the same. I think that since we are all human beings, we should feel just as affected by mass death in another country as we are in our own, and then also the corresponding consequence of that is if I'm hearing about mass death all around the world constantly, then I guess I just take it in a little more stride, even when it's in my own country. Someone on FB said this design would have been great, BEFORE 9/11, and this is my first thought to that "But there were buildings blown up before?"

So if this was being built in NYC, I would totally understand the offense. But since it's not...I don't understand the problem. It doesn't occur to me at all. Like, if Gawker hadn't pointed it out to me, I don't know that I would have ever looked at it and thought 9/11.

I mean, so I guess, are you offended by any design that references bombs or war or violence at all? Cause, you know, okay cool, valid preference. But I'm not. I accept violence in my world, because it exists, explosions exist, also clouds that gather around really tall buildings exist,and so you argue that this building looks like a bomb blast or a pollution cloud, and you know what both of those things look like real clouds, so do real clouds offend your sensibilities as well?

So maybe the worst thing that 9/11 did to you, assuming like me you knew no one personally involved, is that when you look at this you think of that, instead of just regular water clouds. And if does indeed do that to you, wouldn't it be great to reclaim that image as something peaceful and beautiful?

Also I feel really bad for people in America who have that birthday. That's totally unfair.


3 comments:

  1. I think it's a pretty building too. I like the hanging gardens. Your post reminded me of the pissed-off rant that the author did under a review of his 9/11 book I wrote.

    I agree with the whole 'buildings were blown up before' thing. It's true. I mean, it's awful because of the people who died and all and because of what the buildings meant to me as an individual like but what about the Troubles, the London bombings, suicide bombers in Iraq and everything that's happening in Syria?

    I really liked your post. I've been trolling through blogs for a few hours now, not looking for anything in particular, just reading, and yours is one of maybe two that I actually wanted to read and that I felt I connected with. So, yeah, do I say thanks or .. maybe just 'hello'. And happy Saturday.

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  2. Cute Facebook picture. I feel similarly regarding the jingoism aroused by 9-11. There are so many actual policies that fuel conspiracies where it is hard to tell where the truth ends and dystopia begins..

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  3. I really like the building, too.

    I felt very affected when the 9/11 attacks took place and everything got shut down for a couple days. I felt a huge amount of sympathy for the dead and their loved ones who now live without them. I felt scared, not knowing if there might be more attacks coming in the days ahead, in other places.

    But most of all I felt outrage at the response that our country choose in reaction to the attacks, and the way we collectively embraced militarism and a police state, ignoring all logic, law, and protest.

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