See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: [Link]

net/publication/275265857

The Art-Architecture Complex

Article in Journal of Architectural Education · September 2012

DOI: 10.1080/10464883.2012.714919

CITATIONS READS

0 188

1 author:

Aaron Betsky
Virginia Tech
27 PUBLICATIONS 156 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Aaron Betsky on 07 November 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 Journal of Architectural Education

ISSN: 1046-4883 (Print) 1531-314X (Online) Journal homepage: [Link]

The Art-Architecture Complex

HAL FOSTER Verso, 2011 316 pages, 150 color photos, $26.95 (hardcover)

Aaron Betsky

To cite this article: Aaron Betsky (2012) The Art-Architecture Complex, Journal of Architectural
Education, 66:1, 54-55, DOI: 10.1080/10464883.2012.714919

To link to this article: [Link]

Published online: 04 Dec 2012.

Submit your article to this journal

Article views: 1728

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

[Link]
 Foster’s thesis revolves around two terms: and a reading of skin as important as an
Pop and Minimalism. The former, he says, “was understanding of structure . . . a scenographic
a gradual reconfiguration of cultural space, surface of images. (107)
demanded by capitalism, in which structure,
surface, and symbol were combined in new ways. On the architecture side, he runs through
That mixed space is still with us, and so a Pop discussions of projects by Frank Gehry, Richard
dimension persists in contemporary architecture, Rogers, Norman Foster, Zaha Hadid, Renzo Piano,
too” (p. 1). It involves the appropriation not just Herzog & de Meuron, and Diller Scofidio + Renfro,
of mass produced images, but also of the methods ultimately finding that only in the work of the last
through which they are disseminated and the of these there might be something that does more
means by which they are framed and structured. than sublimate the tensions inherent in a capitalist
The latter term he does not define as clearly. He society, and lets those submerged contradictions
only points out that: “In general the Minimalist play out—and then only in one project, the High
line of art tends to such an aesthetic of presence, Line. The others make “decorated ducks” (Gehry)
which invited modes of exhibition that are also or use technology as decoration, celebrating the
presentist in character” (119). He assumes we all new global corporate taste culture. Hadid goes
THE ART-ARCHITECTURE COMPLEX know what Minimalism is. with the flows of data and people, as he cites
HAL FOSTER His primary concern in this volume is not so me saying, and thus descends into capitalistic
Verso, 2011 much the ideal form of these two terms, but what servitude as well.
316 pages, I50 color photos, $26.95 (hardcover) has happened to them over the course of the 20th The Minimalists were at one point able to
century. Pop turned into postmodernism under the make truly modern architecture, but now they
Pop Goes Almost Nothing influence of Venturi and Scott Brown: just “privilege an encounter with a removed
What do you say about a book in which the author aesthetic space over one with a shared historical
In this way, the recouping of Pop as the time.” Artists of this bent (he cites pieces by
calls you “sophistical?” I’d say that he may be
postmodern did constitute an avant-garde, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, James Turrell, Robert
right, but that he and I, as frequent commentators
but it was an avant-garde of most use to Irwin, and Bill Viola) have extended their work
on contemporary art and architecture, share
the Right. With commercial images thus
the same problem. Although I may have less into a large-scale or immersive sublime which
cycled back to the built environment from
prestige and fewer books, we both write critically delivers a “sensation of intensity that, though once
which they arose, Pop became tautological
about work that we admire that seems to further novel in the realm of art, [has] become almost
in the postmodern: rather than a challenge
aspects of our social and economic system that normative in spectacle culture at large, to which
to official culture, it was that culture, or at
we do not support, or that ignores the issues at such art, whatever its intention, serves as an alibi
least its setting (as the corporate skylines of
hand. Hal Foster’s The Art-Architecture Complex or ally” (212). In poignant imagery, he compares
countless cities still attest). (8)
is an argument in ten chapters and one lengthy the experience of such “phenomenal” pieces to
interview (with the sculptor Richard Serra) in Minimalism turns into “scenography,” and Freudian navel-gazing in which one imagines the
which the author reviews the work of a dozen here Colin Rowe and Donald Slutzky are the world has dissolved.
architects and artists in some depth, finds their culprits: All of these artists and architects, the author
work intriguing and perhaps even beautiful, but claims, make fetishes, escapes, or lubricants for
in the end decides that only Serra and the rather To favor phenomenal or literal transparency capitalist society. What is remarkable to Foster
unknown maker of “structural films,” Anthony seems a minor transvaluation, but it marked is the way in which these modes of making,
McCall, are worthy of his praise. I am afraid I find the moment when, once again in architectural presentation, and experience have become
the rationale for his choices no more convincing discourse, attention to surface began to be intertwined, particularly in the modern art
than he finds mine. as important as an understanding of space, museum. That is a question of the erosion of

54 Reviews: Architecture+
 the barriers between media, a condition that is the that McCall creates intricate forms you can only
underlying basis for this book and its title, but of understand by either contemplating them for a long
which he has a critical opinion: time or, as children he observed did, by playing with
them.
Might it be that interdisciplinarity, once This is how art or architecture can recuperate
thought to be transgressive, has become almost a critical position? By engaging in a nostalgia for
routine, not only in art and academic worlds making real things and complex virtual spaces?
but also in architectural practice, and even Is solace to be found in these labyrinths, or the
normative in the “new spirit of capitalism” possibility of change through knowing process?
at large—that is, in an economy in which we Foster is an acute observer and an eloquent
are invited (indeed compelled) to connect, describer of theoretical positions. He finds much he
collaborate, network, and so on? (95) admires in the work he surveys, even though he will
not always admit it. He makes it clear how difficult it
The museum itself has become the ultimate is to make work that is not just good, but that either
zone of compromise and sublimation. In his chapter matters, or makes a difference. Such tasks might
on this subject, Foster claims that Le Corbusier and even be impossible, and identifying those tasks
Adolf Loos highlighted a “tension between the with exactitude might be equally impossible. This is
volume of the building (as with grain elevators) and a thoughtful, slightly rambling book, and I admire
the transparency of its structure (as with daylight his willingness to value and evaluate modern art
factories)” in industrial forms (106). How solid and architecture together. In the end, it is a book of
storage containers and factories where people must sophistical sophistication.
work with daylight are the same, I am not sure, but Aaron Betsky
he extrapolates that these absolutes have dissolved
in both art and architecture to the point that there is
a blur or cloud of translucency—either “lightness” or
“blockage” that do not let you “know” an object or
see through it. The art museum is the site where you
can avoid all difficult questions and have a purely
aesthetic, and thus dis-empowering, experience:
“In an economy desperate to sustain consumer
spending, display remains all-important, and here
architecture serves as both stager and staged, both
the setting for fine commodities and the fairest
commodity of them all” (65).
The closest Foster comes to making a call to
arms is when he says that “transparency might be
a value to recover” (128). He claims this might
be an antidote to the confusion and obfuscation
corporations and government throw up to keep us
out of power. He might be right, though it seems
a bit simple and naïve to this writer. Beyond this,
there is only his admiration for the fact that Richard
Serra shows us how his sculptures are made and

Reviews: Architecture+ 55

View publication stats