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Monday, November 6, 2006

The Desert of The Imagination

posted by on November 6 at 12:34 PM

The Mikimoto was brought into existence by Toyo Ito and is located in Ginza, Tokyo.
3illustr_blokz97.jpg This is architecture at its weakest, at its most embarrassing point. Embarrassing because it’s so proud of itself, so happy to be so original, clever, challenging. But there is nothing in this work but imagination, which was free to play, free from the mind, free to do as it pleased.

Though recognizing the importance of truth, Nietzsche warned that we must rest from it occasionally otherwise we, the seekers of truth, become tiresome and boring. The same can be said about the admired and encouraged power of the imagination. With the Mikimoto, we can see in every window and building material that the designer did not take a breath of rest from the imagination; he gave that old whore (used and abused for centuries by the poets) everything that it begged for—money, fame, love, commitment. And the result? A building that is boring and tiresome. A building that is perpetually excited like a baby with bright plastic moons and stars twirling over its cot. The weak with weak knees submit, they say Yes! to this evident expression of (infantile) freedom; they say to themselves: “Boy, I wish I had imagination.”

RSS icon Comments

1

Nougat!

Posted by Fnarf | November 6, 2006 1:11 PM
2

This building is pure PageantPerfection... afterall, Mikimoto did make the Miss Universe crown-- what's not to love?

Posted by craig | November 6, 2006 2:21 PM
3

Dreamy and poetic Charles. I've never noticed that people like you who search for truth can become irritating and boring. But I suppose it's important to take a break from everything, even searching for truth. Our lives would be diminished without you Charles.

Posted by anne | November 6, 2006 3:51 PM
4

I think it's neat.
Imagine the mentality of the person who saw the sketch and said, "Yes, what the fuck. We'll front the $12,000,000 to build this thing." That's nerve.
Is it grand and glorious? No, but I don't find it as objectionable as you. As expressions of unbridled imagination go, I wouldn't place it as high as the hand-knit sweater for a tree branch, but as someone who lives in a boring city I think it's refreshing to see something this comical alongside the glass behemoths.

Posted by the chimpanzee | November 6, 2006 4:09 PM
5

Have you been inside? It is hard to accurately criticize architecture from a photo.

Posted by Bacon Cheese Egg | November 6, 2006 8:29 PM
6

Good ass point, Bacon Cheese. Without, you know, walking around the building, you might miss its really awesome behind. And then you'd just be an ass.

Posted by alex | November 6, 2006 8:49 PM
7

Worst. Building. Ever.

Which means, of course, that it probably picked up an architectural award!

It's like what van der Rohe would design if he were in second grade, if he suddenly had a fascination with sponges. For a modern office building to have that much opaque surface is not just unsightly, it is quite impractical. And if I worked there, I'd hate that I'd probably be stuck without a window.

Overall? Thumbs down.

Posted by bma | November 7, 2006 12:25 AM
8

Charles:This blog is blogging "at its weakest, at its most embarrassing point. Embarrassing because it’s so proud of itself, so happy to be so original, clever, challenging. But there is nothing in this work but imagination, which was free to play, free from the mind, free to do as it pleased."

And what the fuck is this Neitzsche crap? Boy, I wish YOU had imagination, too.

"Though recognizing the importance of truth, Nietzsche warned that we must rest from it occasionally otherwise we, the seekers of truth, become tiresome and boring. The same can be said about the admired and encouraged power of the imagination."

Get off your high-horse, man. This reads like dodgy college poetry...

Posted by Matt Davis | November 7, 2006 2:04 PM

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