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News & ArtsTuesday, March 12, 2013
Architecture How Can We Stop Frank Gehry?
Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, Mar 12, 2013 at 8:56 AM
Something again crawled out of the sea, rolled over, and died...
And it's not just that Gehry's architecture is ugly but it's empty. Like the word "excellence," it has no meaning. And something that has no meaning is striving for political neutrality. And political neutrality is the desired result of projects funded by those in positions of power, like developers and pro-business associations. It promotes the idea or illusion that there are things in capitalist society that are universal, natural, that can be shared or enjoyed by all with no consequences. Those in power want us to believe such neutral social spaces and practices exist within the limits of the market; what this means is that the tools for transforming this type of society are to be found inside and not outside of it. One such tool/solution is carbon trading. I hate Gehry.
1
Charles, radicalism is a young man's game. It's not for middle-aged bourgeoisie family men like yourself.
3
Good Morning Charles,
I, too have a problem with Gehry's architecture. I never have liked nor grew to like EMP. And, from what I've seen in photographs I don't like the museum in Bilbao, Spain as well. Clearly, he has a unique style but it's just not my cup of tea. I do like some of his furniture though. He created a chair made from corrogated fiber board. That, I thought cool.
I, too have a problem with Gehry's architecture. I never have liked nor grew to like EMP. And, from what I've seen in photographs I don't like the museum in Bilbao, Spain as well. Clearly, he has a unique style but it's just not my cup of tea. I do like some of his furniture though. He created a chair made from corrogated fiber board. That, I thought cool.
4
Gehry's spaces are a nightmare. Ask any curator or site manager of any of his buildings designed in the last couple of decades.
Good god. Look at that god awful wreck and money pit the BioMusea in Panama City that is STILL under construction. What a tribute to one mans ego that shit pile has become.
I'm with you on this, Charles.
Good god. Look at that god awful wreck and money pit the BioMusea in Panama City that is STILL under construction. What a tribute to one mans ego that shit pile has become.
I'm with you on this, Charles.
6
You're all wet, Charles. MOMA Bilbao is a deserved triumph. (Most of his other buildings give me a "meh," and the EMP is a colossal failure - possibly due to Paul Allen vetoing some elements that would have made it look like a smashed guitar as intended, instead of a colorful blob - but Guggenheim Bilbao is a masterpiece.)
7
This one I like -- he's gotten the very wealthy to fund and praise something that looks like a shanty town constructed of scraps of metal, and give it one of the most prestigious locations in Panama.
Every ship, every plane, every traveller coming into Panama will see this thing, and it will become part of their memories of Panama. When they think of Panama, they will think of this shanty town, this sad, miserable shanty town somehow devoid of all activity.
Every ship, every plane, every traveller coming into Panama will see this thing, and it will become part of their memories of Panama. When they think of Panama, they will think of this shanty town, this sad, miserable shanty town somehow devoid of all activity.
8
I never thought I would agree with Charles on something re: architecture. but here we are.
Gehry is a nightmare and a travesty.
Gehry is a nightmare and a travesty.
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"Panama's growth is developer driven. Projects are done without much interest in what goes on around it. Infrastructure has not grown at all. Definitely not as fast as construction has grown. "
Sounds like Seattle.
Sounds like Seattle.
10
I agree completely. Gehry is evil and must be stopped.
Bilbao is pretty but useless, and full of Jeff Koons garbage and the like -- art for the ultra-rich with only its massively inflated dollar value as its only artistic value. The worst thing about it is the effect it has had on architecture, namely, encouraging more work for Gehry. We get it, Frank -- you can do bendy shapes. Your buildings, like most of your starchitect contemporaries, are hate crimes against cities.
Bilbao is pretty but useless, and full of Jeff Koons garbage and the like -- art for the ultra-rich with only its massively inflated dollar value as its only artistic value. The worst thing about it is the effect it has had on architecture, namely, encouraging more work for Gehry. We get it, Frank -- you can do bendy shapes. Your buildings, like most of your starchitect contemporaries, are hate crimes against cities.
12
Gehry is contemptible. Like every celebrated bad artist, his crimes go beyond the mere production of shit in public spaces and the marring of skyline. He corrupts good taste in the process. He once stated that he aspires to make architecture like every other art -- painting, for example. Painting is not a slave to utility, so why should architecture be?
Obvious answer: because it's architecture, you stupid fucking poser cretin. The glory of architecture is this tension between utility and art, and the work of architecture is to resolve that tension. Gehry simply pretends it doesn't exist.
Begin with a corrupt vision, and you end up with a corrupt output. And a facile cheerleading corps.
Obvious answer: because it's architecture, you stupid fucking poser cretin. The glory of architecture is this tension between utility and art, and the work of architecture is to resolve that tension. Gehry simply pretends it doesn't exist.
Begin with a corrupt vision, and you end up with a corrupt output. And a facile cheerleading corps.
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Charles, if you haven't already done so, please check out Deyan Sudjic's book The Edifice Complex: http://www.amazon.com/The-Edifice-Comple…
It's a really witty dissection of the complex symbiosis between starchitects and the wealthy and powerful who patronize them.
It's a really witty dissection of the complex symbiosis between starchitects and the wealthy and powerful who patronize them.
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Numerous MIT Linguists were excited when Gehry's name popped up as the architect for their new suite of buildings, because they liked the Bilbao museum a lot. However, now that Gehry has farted a bunch of crushed beer cans out on the campus at MIT, the older profs are not enthused (I have not asked the younger ones). Noam Chomsky got vertigo inside his own office - no single straight line anywhere. His assistant had to rush out and buy gargantuan plants to give the walls that hold no shape some cover.
15
Yawn!
Architecture is art. Not all art is liked but that is not the point. As an example most mid century Avant-garde music is unlistenable and unliked by the general public. But it is still there and explored, stopping people from making it would be censorship. Having a limited view of art and politicizing it to condemn it is the problem here. It is far from neutral. Most of the architecture you praise is neutral. Having a phobia of architecture that is free in style is the problem, your problem.
But then maybe your comments are all smoke and mirrors and really you just hate him because he is Canadian.
Architecture is art. Not all art is liked but that is not the point. As an example most mid century Avant-garde music is unlistenable and unliked by the general public. But it is still there and explored, stopping people from making it would be censorship. Having a limited view of art and politicizing it to condemn it is the problem here. It is far from neutral. Most of the architecture you praise is neutral. Having a phobia of architecture that is free in style is the problem, your problem.
But then maybe your comments are all smoke and mirrors and really you just hate him because he is Canadian.
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I have to agree. Walking through the EMP there are just plain uncomfortable spaces. They can't be used for anything useful and they don't really have any intrinsic interest. Making the building work for the changing needs of the museum must be a chore.
The Stata Center at MIT is another terrible example of Gehry architecture. The walls are all curved and slanty so regular furniture can't fit in the labs. Things end up leaning against the walls and looking really shabby. And then there are real problems with noise in the building since many of the labs have open ceilings. And, I believe it leaks.
The Stata Center at MIT is another terrible example of Gehry architecture. The walls are all curved and slanty so regular furniture can't fit in the labs. Things end up leaning against the walls and looking really shabby. And then there are real problems with noise in the building since many of the labs have open ceilings. And, I believe it leaks.
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@15, architecture is not art. It is urban space. It's where people live, or try to. Good architecture responds to people's needs; Gehry's work sneers at them.
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@everyone: Architecture is whatever the architect and money-providers want it to be. If Gehry wants his stuff to be style over substance, so be it. I personally love his attempts at melding sculpture and space, even if it isn't completely successful. I like artists that destroy boundaries. He does exactly that.
I think I'm one of the only people that really like EMP in this city. YOU ARE ALL WRONG! HA HA HA HA!!!!
I think I'm one of the only people that really like EMP in this city. YOU ARE ALL WRONG! HA HA HA HA!!!!
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Hey, we all make a few crappy products now and then in our respective lines of work. Frank Gehry is just one of the lucky ones that gets paid millions for his crap. If I could get paid that much to design a building that looks like it was built by drunk people, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I think the bathtub museum in Amsterdam is worse than any of Gehry's shit.
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Nothing wrong with building structures that are beautiful works of art but useless as functional buildings - Frank Lloyd Wright built dozens of them. Just stop selling them to people who insist on, you know, USING them for something.
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gherys stuff is definitely art. you can just use it as a shelter; like a giant stella sculpture; or 3d dekooning. the fact that most of these idiots agreee with mudede should give him pause. Google minimalism; these things are all chairs, floors and walls and none of them are comfortable.
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I'm going to have to agree with porchedge here. I've studied in, lived in, and worked in a number of architectural wonder buildings, and what looks great in pictures rarely works well for utility and comfort.
It's like temples. Great art, lousy places to have to be in for any length of time.
It's like temples. Great art, lousy places to have to be in for any length of time.
26
I love the Walt Disney Music Hall in LA. It's beautiful, and in LA, it fits. Never been inside it though.
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