#archleague

RIP #afoam #archleague #folly 2014 submission...until next year!

In “Deep Economy”, Bill McKibben attacks the historical truism that “more” is synonymous with “better”, and postulated that in our post-industrial, post-peak oil economy, they have in fact become opposites. It was obvious Tuesday night that this line of thought figured not at all into MoMA’s apologia of its expansion plans presented by Glen Lowry and Liz Diller in a “Conversation” at the New York Society for Ethical Culture organized by The Architectural League, the Municipal Art Society, and the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter in response to the announcement of the Museum’s intent to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum building by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien. (http://archleague.org/2014/01/a-conversation-on-the-museum-of-modern-arts-plan-for-expansion/) The discussion of the design’s primary need to create a circulation loop to move people through the galleries in the base of Jean Nouvel’s 1100+ foot high luxury residential tower which might be stymied were the AFMA building to remain, brought to mind the urbanistic proposals of Robert Moses for the expressway across lower Manhattan from an era of consumption, not one of social and ecological responsibility. After two hours of presentations and discussions, the takeaway was that there were plenty of other possible answers, but they were for questions that MoMA wouldn’t ask. Piet Hein once said that art is solving problems that cannot be formulated until they are solved. So what we get here is not art, but commerce, a preordained response to the requirement presented to DSR by MoMA that to save AFAM, the building must have a “productive” use. As I was heading home, this flyer caught my eye on a tourist kiosk at Columbus Circle, and it is a stunning insight into MoMA‘s corporate priorities that have created this sad prospect on 53rd Street.

Sarah Wigglesworth

Sarah Wigglesworth

Sarah Wigglesworth

Sarah Wigglesworth