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Last update - 13:43 12/10/2008 Architecture / In search of 'personal' space By Ziva Sternhell Tags: Israel news, books Performalism / Form and Performance in Digital Architecture, edited by Yasha Grobman and Eran Neuman Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 179 pages, NIS 100 (Hebrew and English) It is not too difficult to dispute many of the sweeping definitions that appear in "Performalism," the catalog of an exhibition that ran over the summer at the Tel Aviv Museum's Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art. Nonetheless, it is hard to avoid being caught up in the excitement generated by the courage and daring displayed by the exhibition's curators, Yasha Grobman and Eran Neuman, who also edited the catalog. The show featured the works of 14 architects from around the world, including Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman and Greg Lynn, with the goal of identifying a new approach in international architecture, one that has been a familiar phenomenon for more than a decade but which still lacked a name. Advertisement Grobman and Neuman go beyond merely presenting a theoretical frame for the advantages of using computers in architectural planning and design. In the spirit of the revolutionary avant-garde, whose existence we had almost forgotten, they have compiled an enthusiastic manifesto, one that compares the impact of digital technology to that of the industrial revolution and its impact on various areas of human creative activity. To prove that there is, in fact, a common denominator - an essential factor for making a solid declaration that a new approach has arisen - they have included photographs that present a range of impressive architectural projects, most of which resemble monumental statues that stand out within their environment. Photographs of these projects, which are designed in undulating biomorphic lines, are joined by photos of other projects that look very much like pictures from scientific studies concerned with cell reproduction. Most of the architects who featured in the exhibition wrote brief texts on their projects, and the catalog is accompanied by a DVD with interviews the curators conducted with them. They have also included articles from theoreticians in the field, including Harvard's Antoine Picon and UCLA's Sylvia Lavin. Anything's possible Grobman and Neuman call the new trend in architecture 'performalism,' a term that is derived from the words 'performance' (the way in which a building and urban planning in general function, and the degree to which they meet our demands) and 'form' (the building's external appearance). In fact, the term could apply to the entire field of architecture from its very inception, although in the opening decade of the 21st century, it has acquired a new meaning. In an era characterized by increased population density, a dizzying pace of change, technological innovations that enable nearly every concept to be translated into reality, and an ever-increasing variety of sophisticated building materials, it is difficult for professionals to handle the heavy load of design-related demands single-handedly. The possibility of feeding all the required physical data into the computer, and the latter's ability to generate an astonishingly wide range of possibilities in three-dimensional images, has opened a new chapter in the history of architecture. Today, the computer can replace an entire team of technical advisers and can connect architects directly to their projects. Although one may initially get the impression that this revolution will instantly change the foundations of architecture, in addition to changing our constructed landscape, a close look at the many texts in the catalog raises a considerable number of questions. The problem is not just defining a phenomenon that is still in the making; it is also the difficulty involved in distinguishing that phenomenon from similar ones that arose during the course of the 20th century. Futuristic concepts were well known even before the 20th century. They often accorded a messianic character to scientific and technological innovations, and this played a key role in the development of modern architecture. However, since the beginning of the previous century, these concepts have become entangled in an underbrush of controversy and disagreement. This state of affairs makes it difficult for Grobman and Neuman to place performalism in any historical context. As products of a post-modernist culture, they are aware of the danger of declaring the existence of any single lasting phenomenon. They also reject the rationalist and universalist views that, in their opinion, characterized early modernism, and limited the concept of functionalism to architecture?s physical performance. At the same time, they are conscious of the growing criticism of a focus on form and on the creation of attractive images that display both a disdain for functionality, and a refusal to accept the social commitment that society expects from architects. But Grobman and Neuman believe that performalism can strike a proper balance between form and function. "Performance" has many meanings; ranging from functionalism, in its familiar connotation of performance and efficiency, to such ideas as architecture being a combination of showcase, event and activity intended to have an impact on our inner world. The understanding of performance as a show finds significant expression in the structures displayed in the catalog, most of which could serve as sets in a surrealistic theater production or science fiction movie. The fact that the computer's output is perceived as an endless flow of images, from which the architect can choose, turns the work of design into participation in a dynamic process or event and pushes the language of architecture to extremes in terms of form. Nonetheless, despite the innovative impression that the new technology creates, ultimately its products often remind us of expressionist architecture, which was rendered with a pencil on sheets of paper in the early 20th century. Even then, architects were trying to convert their era's technology into a tool that could express imagination and feeling, and even then they wanted more than anything to create spaces that would give human beings a truly spiritual experience. Moreover, the futurist and expressionist spirit that can be sensed in architecture today is not much different from the wave that swept avant-garde circles in the 1960s. This is the subject of Lavin's article. Her attempt to emphasize the experiential aspect of architecture leads her to British avant-garde architecture, which began to flourish in the 1950s. It was an era when architects participated in a revolution that shook the very foundations of the establishment culture and which is known primarily thanks to the activities of the futurist Archigram group. As someone who believes in the need to avoid the limitations that restrict architecture to the realm of "scientific fictions" and "pseudo-positivistically measurable achievements," she advocates an architecture that will "find lyricism and fantasy in the aberrant and spectacular." To explain the performance element in architecture, Lavin focuses on architect Cedric Price, who, in the early 1960s, collaborated with theater director Joan Littlewood in the staging of events that erased the demarcation lines between the various fields of art. This, she says, is how not only architecture, but life itself, can be turned into a kind of artistic installation. In contrast with Lavin's enthusiasm, which recalls expressionist texts from the previous century, Antoine Picon's essay provides a more balanced, cautious view. He fears architecture's transformation into an experiential and theatrical event and is concerned about the danger of architects shirking their responsibility to meet traditional functional needs intended to improve society's physical conditions. Picon is also alarmed by elements that are tinged with a disdain for the moral values that preceded the existence of architecture. Digital architecture can solve complex problems and its flexibility quickly adapts to changing needs and continually fluctuating market conditions. However, he perceives the danger of a link between realism and formalism that is dedicated to achieving autonomy for architecture and to thus narrowing the architect's role. This link frequently leads to an "architecture of ornamented boxes" and can ultimately destroy the ideal of functionalism and the profession's very sense of mission and commitment. Emotional needs, too In light of these two diametrically opposed views, Grobman and Neuman try to give performalism an ideological dimension that also contains moral values. Grobman stresses the advantages the computer offers for the implementational aspects of planning that are not confined to the design of a structure's form. The computer's imaging capabilities, which seek to meet physical needs, have significantly improved architecture's functional capacity. However, he points out, functionalism also refers to the architectural object's impact on our awareness and feelings. Here, he admits, technology must develop further if it wishes to contribute to the process of converting architecturally created space into a meaningful entity that satisfies the emotional needs of those who use that space. Like Picon, Grobman is conscious of the dangers inherent in computer-assisted planning: Digital technology can tip the scales in the direction of a focus on the physical, formal aspects of construction. Since it is universalist and uniform by nature, digital technology could thus lead architects to ignore local needs. However, Grobman notes, this is not a mechanistic, deterministic approach; ultimately, it is the architect who supplies the computer with the data and who establishes priorities. Even in the choice of the final design, there is a process of subjective selection from the infinite number of possibilities that the computer provides. Thus, the architect's moral commitment will remain intact. Neuman's essay is concerned with the conceptual aspect of performance. Like Grobman, he believes that the applicability of architecture does not rest solely on its compliance with physical, functional needs; architecture must also provide us with a multi-variegated space that can enable us to realize our personal identity and our ambitions. In his view, architecture must create flexible space that can enable adaptations to meet changing human needs; thus, architects must take into consideration cultural, social and political data. "The process of digital planning," writes Neuman, "seeks to develop an open system in which the parameters that produce the architectural realms will be flexible, dynamic and frequently changing." As Neuman sees it, this is performalism's real mission; that is, it seeks to link the contemporary idea of self-realization to the wide range of forms and the complex functionality that the new technology offers. Walking through a maze Although the articles in the catalog present differing viewpoints, as do the explanations of the architects in the exhibition, the catalog succeeds in creating a coherent definition for the contemporary trend. Its main weaknesses stem from a lack of broad historical background and from the curators' enthusiastic belief in the new technology's revolutionary message. As has been the case whenever a new technology has appeared to be capable of fundamentally changing human reality, here as well the maxim seems to be, as Picon puts it, "nothing seems really to change in our lives." Digital technology's impressive capabilities, its outstanding "memory," the glitter of new building materials, the extreme forms of new buildings and the architectural spaces that give us a sense that we are walking through a maze copied from a science fiction movie, do not change the fact that it is hard to find many ideas in these texts that have not previously appeared in the annals of modern architecture. Furthermore, the assumption of Grobman and Neuman that performalism offers a new and broad functionalism is rather imprecise. Contrary to what they say, modern functionalism did not advocate a narrow, mechanistic view. Although it expressed itself in geometric language, its theoretical principles were rooted in organic concepts: It was biology, not physics, that was the heart of the modern revolution. And psychology also played a significant role. The fact that the computer can today link various scientific fields such as physics, biology, genetics and ecology in the realization of the ideal of environmental planning has only added another, more complex, organic element. One can, of course, criticize; and quite justifiably so; the fact that the works in the catalog express a world where a sophisticated, expensive architecture is enslaving itself to an unruly capitalism, which is jubilant in a world of globalization that tramples over ancient moral norms. However, in the present circumstances of a cultural crisis, when no alternative has yet been found to the ideals that once gave meaning to human life, the excitement generated in these two curators by the new technology preserves the spirit of modern optimism and the drive for innovations that is dependent on scientific progress. Although they are not suggesting a new 'utopia,' it can still be hoped that digital technology will ultimately be used not only as a formalistic innovation or to satisfy the whims of the money barons and totalitarian regimes, but also to meet the needs of those who simply need a decent place in which to spend their lives. Ziva Sternhell teaches in the history and theory department at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Hair apparent Ultra-Orthodox shop unveils 'Sarah Palin Wig' based on Alaska governor's famous 'do. Protocols of Wall Street 'Report': Jewish execs sent $400 billion to Israel before Lehman Brothers' demise.   1.   A book is not only content 21:32  |  Me 12/10/08

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