A WORK IN PUBLIC SPACE BY THOMAS HIRSCHHORN, PRODUCED BY DIA ART FOUNDATION NEW YORK
LOCATED AT FOREST HOUSES, THE BRONX - NEW YORK CITY, SUMMER 2013
A handful of architects have visited the monument over the past weeks and in every
instance the conversation spirals down to an awkward apology for architecture’s guilty
conscious for the failure of urban planning. There is no doubt that a new notion
of architecture in relation to civic society is to be thought and pushed along by
a courageous generation of architects but as we have experienced recently, the public
space retains social and political vitality of what might be needed. Perhaps it is
worthwhile to begin by considering the social character of friendship and contrast
it to the architecture structure of the “pavilion” or kiosk for an interpretable
form and program with palpable civic meaning. A pavilion, more or less a large tent,
a wide-open structure that exists in an ambiguous dimension, not a complete building
but a cross between a shed and a gazebo. These freestanding structures, which often
times lack proper plumbing and running water, and therefore have functional constraints,
allow a different manner socializing and interacting beyond ordered and ritualized
activities. It is in this confusion that the pavilion holds tight to its role in
the invention of a “common space” generated independent from purpose and proper function.
The space of the pavilion can be defined as an unspoken agreement on civility, hospitality
and affection. (continues on note 23)
