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Nobody is debating whether art pieces like that can exist, in general. These are not mere art pieces that one experiences at their leisure. These are environm

Nobody is debating whether art pieces like that can exist, in general. These are not mere art pieces that one experiences at their leisure. These are environments that people must live and work in and around, often with little choice in the matter. I submit that deliberately making the environment inhospitable for the people living there requires more justification than “I decree this discomfort is artistic, and will be good for you”.

llamaimperative 2y ago
By analogy, if you are playing music over your entire block 24/7 and you pick music that is really pushing the boundaries of most people's tastes: you're not sophisticated, you're just an asshole.
- ImPostingOnHN 2y ago
  To continue the analogy, each building plays its own music to the city, and the 'destroy art I don't like' here is akin to saying "no, don't play THAT genre to the entire city, only play THIS genre of music to the entire city" Does liking THIS genre of music somehow make one more sophisticated when playing it to the entire city?
  - llamaimperative 2y ago
    No, it's really not. http://architecture-history.org/schools/BRUTALISM.html http://architecture-history.org/schools/BRUTALISM.html > the Brutalist apothegm “An ethic, not an aesthetic” acquired significance. Explicitly held aesthetic appeal as a non-goal. From day one it has always been identified as "bold", "provocative", and "radical". These arguments for brutalism -- since day one -- are literally describing its lack of harmony in time and place.
ImPostingOnHN 2y ago
I believe that the number of people who are forced to view a given piece of brutalist architecture all day constitutes a small fraction of its dislikers. I walk a mile through my city and I see buildings of all shapes and sizes, and if I don't favor one, I note that I do not favor it, and at worst, look in a different direction, and am past it in a matter of seconds (and I don't think it should be destroyed either). Beyond that, I could walk 1 block one way or another to avoid it, if it was sufficiently objectionable. Having said that, if you work or live in a building you do not favor, or perhaps across the street from one which obscures your view (assuming you have one), that isn't great.
everybodyknows 2y ago
Having spent many hours working at a window table in the now-Geisel Library, looking out over the chaparral canyons to the east, I will submit my lived experience of it as having been highly hospitable.

llamaimperative 2y ago

By analogy, if you are playing music over your entire block 24/7 and you pick music that is really pushing the boundaries of most people's tastes: you're not sophisticated, you're just an asshole.

ImPostingOnHN 2y ago
To continue the analogy, each building plays its own music to the city, and the 'destroy art I don't like' here is akin to saying "no, don't play THAT genre to the entire city, only play THIS genre of music to the entire city" Does liking THIS genre of music somehow make one more sophisticated when playing it to the entire city?
- llamaimperative 2y ago
  No, it's really not. http://architecture-history.org/schools/BRUTALISM.html http://architecture-history.org/schools/BRUTALISM.html > the Brutalist apothegm “An ethic, not an aesthetic” acquired significance. Explicitly held aesthetic appeal as a non-goal. From day one it has always been identified as "bold", "provocative", and "radical". These arguments for brutalism -- since day one -- are literally describing its lack of harmony in time and place.

ImPostingOnHN 2y ago

I believe that the number of people who are forced to view a given piece of brutalist architecture all day constitutes a small fraction of its dislikers. I walk a mile through my city and I see buildings of all shapes and sizes, and if I don't favor one, I note that I do not favor it, and at worst, look in a different direction, and am past it in a matter of seconds (and I don't think it should be destroyed either). Beyond that, I could walk 1 block one way or another to avoid it, if it was sufficiently objectionable. Having said that, if you work or live in a building you do not favor, or perhaps across the street from one which obscures your view (assuming you have one), that isn't great.

everybodyknows 2y ago

Having spent many hours working at a window table in the now-Geisel Library, looking out over the chaparral canyons to the east, I will submit my lived experience of it as having been highly hospitable.