Superstudio Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

One of architecture’s main objectives is to ensure the best possible conditions for the protection and development of human life. At the same time, architecture has always referred to animals in various ways. Even as, throughout history, the most important architectural creations were dedicated to the glory of gods, animal figures persistently featured as reminders of the sacred, the irrational, the monstrous or the evil. In ancient Greek temples Gods and semi-Gods were put side by side with lions and horses; in Gothic cathedrals saints and holy figures stood next to wolves, lambs and pigs; in the churches of the 18th and 19th centuries owls, swans, fish, deer, etc. were used as symbols that communicated common mentalities and religious beliefs, promoted ethical and aesthetic norms and ideals, and performed as reflective-critical comments on human creation and life.

In the 20th century the presence of animals in architecture gradually receded as positivism and functionalism prevailed. However, one could still find various references to and representations of animals in the work of the architects of the 20th century. From the pack-donkey in Le Corbusier’s The City of Tomorrow (1929), and the goats in Dimitris Pikionis’s Aixoni (1957), to the horses in Superstudio’s Atti Fondamentali (1972), and the spiders in Lina Bo Bardi’s Intermezzo per bambini (1984), the animal as a latent model, paradigm, metaphor and symbol comes to serve a critical-interpretive function.

This workshop aims to launch a discussion on the animal in the history and theory of architecture of the 20th century by reconsidering the animal as a vital symbol/signifier/qualifier for the human, as the ‘negative’ or the ‘other’ of the human. In this framework the words “negative” and “other” do not indicate something inferior or less important than the human but, on the contrary, something substantial and meaningful, a missing link or an archetype, an object which expands, completes or even mirrors the notion of the human. How can we re-think animals beyond their se (or the use of parts and attributes of them) as mere formalist inspirations for architectural design which are often empty of content, identity, and meaning? How can we re-consider the various references to animals in the architecture of the 20th century as an alternative field of research for architectural history, theory and criticism? How can we re-interpret the entangled, convoluted representations of animals as objects of the architects’ sublimation but also as reflections of their ethical position; as concerns of citizens active in the cultural and political environment of their age?

The workshop considers animal references and representations as symbolic constructions and parts of an imaginary ecology that at the same time perform as rhetoric devices. Within this context, alien, fantastic, holy, wild, idealized, and exotic creatures appear as typical objects of otherness; as models, paradigms, and metaphors in a discourse that attempts to critically question the identities, definitions and boundaries of modern and postmodern architecture. A mapping of these images, references and representations, as well as a documentation and interpretation of their function during the creative process, will be one of the workshop’s main targets. The interpretive charting of these nonhuman creatures will not only allow for a better understanding of the architects’ ideas and intentions but will also help locate their oeuvre into a broader context, and in correspondence to other cultural centers located in a complex global network of influential intellectuals.

A thorough examination of specific case studies will illustrate the ways in which these references to animals serve a critical-interpretive purpose through a reflective extension of a predominantly humanistic/anthropocentric science and art, such as architecture is. How are animals used and in which context? What is their latent programmatic, philosophical and ideological content? In which ways do they express critical stances against modernity? How do they relate to local myths and indigenous identities? How do they defend cultural history and tradition against the threats of globalization? What kind of unconscious doubts, resistances, challenges and anxieties do they cover?

The workshop entitled “The Architect and the Animal: 20th Century Encounters” aims to provoke a fresh and rich dialogue on a contemporary, but neglected, topic, by inviting novel and daring contributions that challenge and expand the established discourse, and by providing enough material for the production of a scholarly edited volume, to be submitted for publication by an established, international academic press.