http://www.laweekly.com/2013-05-30/art-books/pacific-standard-time-presents-getty/
Hello Everyone:
First some sad news. On Friday June 7, 2013, a shooting took place at Santa Monica College killing five people and injuring a number of others. The shooter was a student distraught over his parents' divorce and other personal problems. He set fire to his family home in Santa Monica, California, carjacked a woman, strafed a bus, then entered the college library to continue his shooting spree. I feel a deep sense of violation, anger, and loss over this because SMC was place where I was able to pick up the shards of a damaged academic career and start over on the path I'm on now. I also believe that schools are place for opportunities where people of all backgrounds can come together for a common purpose. It's painful to think about it. Someone so distressed about their personal life, instead of being steered to therapy, was allowed to slip by, purchase a gun and ammunition, and violate the halls of academia. Anyway onto to today's topic: L.A. Car Culture.
Specifically, I want to talk about Los Angeles' car culture as a theme in the ongoing series of exhibitions "Pacific Standard Time Presents." Transportation was one of the things that enabled Los Angeles to spread (sprawl) out like it does. In her article on May 30, 2013 for the LA Weekly, Alissa Walker takes a critical look at the use of the automobile as a recurring theme in the PSTP exhibitions. The point she is attempting to make is are the exhibitions around town too focused on the car? Has the automobile become so ingrained in Los Angeles that it has become inextricably connected to Los Angeles' identity? Think about it for a second. What is one of the images that come to mind when you think about Los Angeles? It's a rhetorical question because the answer is a car. The first piece of evidence Ms. Walker presents is a 1961 painting by Roger W. Kuntz of a shadowed overpass stretching into infinity and Michael Light's 2004 aerial photograph of the pretzely 5/10/60/101 interchange with the downtown skyline fading into the background. Ms. Walker even points to the name of the Getty show, "Overdrive L.A. Constructs 1940-1990." as more evidence of the overfocus on the automobile.
Other works of art are placed into evidence by our interrogator. An Edward Ruscha retrospective featuring gas stations and entire streets photographed from a car, at the MAK Center (http://www.makcenter.org) an exhibit was mounted featuring freeway art from the 1970s that are displayed behind plexiglass vitrines give the audience the impression of looking at the pieces from a windshield. The question Ms. Walker asks is "Is driving what we talk about when we talk about L.A.'s modern architecture." Well, in one sense yes, driving is part of L.A.'s modern architecture. It has been before 1940, with the construction of the Bullock's Wilshire building on Wilshire Boulevard and Westmoreland in the 1920s. The entrance was deliberately placed in the rear so that cars could turn off the street and park in the back. Writer D. J. Waldie provides an answer, "When we think about Los Angeles at the end of the 20th century, we see ourselves in cars...before the freeways became 24/7 hells..." Mr. Waldie sums up L.A. architecture, "All or even most of Los Angeles can't be summed up by automobiles, but driving remains the simplest metaphor for what is utopian and what is dystopian about Los Angeles. Ms. Walker points out amusing irony here, the Getty Trust, which is funding PSTP, was made possible by Getty Oil which fed the cars.
Thus while other cities examine the architecture from the same period in terms of parks, plazas, muscular buildings, we get photographs of oil fields. As a side note, the great mystery writer Raymond Chandler uses the oil industry as background for his first novel The Big Sleep. It isn't as if cars haven't been prominent themes in post-World War II art. Ed Kienholz Backseat Dodge '38 and the hood of a Corvair ornately painted by Judy Chicago. Los Angeles' monuments? The freeway of course. Parking lots as public space. This is what Los Angeles has to show for itself architecturally, according to Ms. Walker. Apparently she forgot some of Los Angeles' great pre-World War II monuments such as the Los Angeles Public Library or City Hall. Let's not forget the great postwar monuments such as the Music Center or Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Currently at the Architecture and Design Museum (http://www.aplusd.org), there is an exhibit , "Windshield Perspective," examining a twelve block stretch of Beverly Boulevard. Admittedly Beverly Boulevard is not the most elegant street in Los Angeles. It's more like the city itself, it's a mix of everything, the elegant homes of Hancock Park and the strip malls of area between Virgil and Normandie, the focus of the exhibit. According to curator and architectural critic Greg Goldin, "We want to see the city as it has made itself with its own hands, and not as it has been made by those who sallied forth with big ideas, about architecture, urbanism or any commanding view." True enough. Beverly Boulevard is a hotchpotch of urbanism and architecture. That's good because Los Angeles is really like that. This is not to say that the bold faced architecture isn't worth consideration anymore. However, it is heartening to know that lesser, vernacular works are being given their due. So while the Getty heralds the big guns, we have the smaller works to remind the audience that this is Los Angeles seen and not seen from the car.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
The Eames House
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-em-eames-home-restoration-20130519,1681897.print.story
Hello Everyone:
Before I forget, you can check out my boards on pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy
First, a quick update on the events in Turkey. Media coverage, at least in the United States, has been moved to the back pages. In the meantime, the movement to save Gezi Park continues to grow into a platform for old social grievances. Sometimes, preservation can have this effect. What starts out as one thing, grows into something greater. This doesn't happen too often in the United States, where saving a park becomes a national forum for redressing past social hurts. But here we have it. The efforts to save the park have exposed all manner of social divides bringing to the forefront the biggest one of all, Muslim versus Secular Turkey. Religion never seems to be far from the social mix in the Middle East. I suppose it's a testament to the dominent role it plays in all aspects of life. For now, the story continues to have legs. We'll see where those legs take us. Now onto today's topic, conservation efforts at the Eames House.
Unlike the events in Turkey, conservation efforts at the Eames House aren't causing wide-spread social unrest. In fact, it's barely causing a ripple of interest unless you're a preservationist. Why should anyone care about this house located in Pacific Palisades, California. Well, it was quite novel for its time. It's architect/owners Charles and Rae (a woman) Eames took a rather creative approach to crafting a space for themselves and their family. Originally known as Case Study House #8 (hmm this gives me an idea for a future blog), the Eames House was one of about two dozen homes built as part of the Case Study House Program. The program began in the mid-1940s and continued through the early sixties. It was headed by John Entenza, the publishers of Arts and Architecture magazine. The challenge to architects was to build a home designed to express a person's life in the modern world. (http://www.eamesfoundation.org/eames-house-history/) The program attracted notable architects as: Charles Eames, Pierred Koening, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Neutra. Each of the participating architects contributed their vision of what a well-designed, mass-produced house for the average American should look like and how it should work. The houses were to built and furnished using materials and techniques learned from the experiences of the Second World War. Each home would have a real or hypothetical client that the architect would have to consider. The Eameses proposed a home for a married couple that worked in design and graphic arts, whose children were out of the house. They wanted a home that made no demands for itself and serve as backdrop for "life in work" and nature as the "shock absorber."
Presently, the house is at the forefront of the struggle to preserve well-known modern buildings around the world. Side note, in the last chapter of my thesis, I spend time discussing Japan's efforts to preserve their modernist legacy. I focus on the Nakajin Capsule Hotel and how the Japan Institute of Architects and architects around the world are rallying to save this early seventies modernist hotel. The preservation activities at the Nakajin Capsule Hotel are a microcosm of attitudes and approaches architects and preservationists are taking in considering the architecture of the post-war period. According to Susan MacDonald the head of the Getty Conservation Institute field projects, "The Eames House is of international significance and demonstrates a number of challenges that are shared across houses from this period that are publicly accessible-from environmental issues and collections management to physical conservation challenges related to the use of modern materials."
The timing of this project couldn't be better. The Eames House Foundation (http://www.eamesfoundation.org), whose duty it is to preserve the house and the designer's creative legacy, asked the GCI for assistance just as the preservation initiative was beginning to take form. By a stroke of luck, a request from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to re-create the Eames' living room for its 2011-12 exhibition "Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965" coincided with the replacement of the original floor. The floor tiles were brittle and full of cancerous asbestos and the adhesive that held them to the concrete floor was wrecked because of moisture seepage. The difficulty became finding an adhesive that wouldn't be so toxic and asbestos-free tiles that resembled the originals. Obviously a trip to Home Depot was out of the question. In the meantime, the furniture and contents of the room were the highlight of LACMA's critically acclaimed and hit show "Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965," didn't travel to the just closed at the National Art Center in Tokyo, Japan. The show was part of the Getty's original "Pacific Standard Time" exhibitions.
The Eames Foundation approached the GCI for general guidance as well as specific advice, according to Lucia Dewey Atwood, a member of the board and granddaughter of Charles and Rae Eames. The situation is unusual because it's not just the structure that being preserved, it's also the contents. One real difficulty is the light streaming through the windows, designed to produce an indoor-outdoor effect, inevitably damages sensitive building materials, fabrics, and artwork. I've seen this first hand in an inventory I did of the remaining furniture from the Freeman House (1924) by Frank Lloyd Wright. Further, it isn't just the environment inside the house, it's also the environment outside the house. There's a marine environment, so conservationists have to monitor the daily fluctuations of temperatures as well as wind, temperature, humidity, and light.
The house has been placed in nomination as a National Historic Landmark and the form can be viewed at http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf. The thirty-five page document details the contributions the house has made to the advancement of American culture in the post-World War II years. The preservation of this house and others post-war modernist buildings is becoming very crucial as time progresses. It's not just landmark single family homes that deserve our attention but also commercial buildings. These post-war masterpieces were built during a time when the world was rapidly changing thanks to the optimistic mood of the United States following World War II. The Eames House is great example of accessible high-quality mass housing that were derived from the material and techniques developed during the war. If anything, it's a great space to be in.
Hello Everyone:
Before I forget, you can check out my boards on pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy
First, a quick update on the events in Turkey. Media coverage, at least in the United States, has been moved to the back pages. In the meantime, the movement to save Gezi Park continues to grow into a platform for old social grievances. Sometimes, preservation can have this effect. What starts out as one thing, grows into something greater. This doesn't happen too often in the United States, where saving a park becomes a national forum for redressing past social hurts. But here we have it. The efforts to save the park have exposed all manner of social divides bringing to the forefront the biggest one of all, Muslim versus Secular Turkey. Religion never seems to be far from the social mix in the Middle East. I suppose it's a testament to the dominent role it plays in all aspects of life. For now, the story continues to have legs. We'll see where those legs take us. Now onto today's topic, conservation efforts at the Eames House.
Unlike the events in Turkey, conservation efforts at the Eames House aren't causing wide-spread social unrest. In fact, it's barely causing a ripple of interest unless you're a preservationist. Why should anyone care about this house located in Pacific Palisades, California. Well, it was quite novel for its time. It's architect/owners Charles and Rae (a woman) Eames took a rather creative approach to crafting a space for themselves and their family. Originally known as Case Study House #8 (hmm this gives me an idea for a future blog), the Eames House was one of about two dozen homes built as part of the Case Study House Program. The program began in the mid-1940s and continued through the early sixties. It was headed by John Entenza, the publishers of Arts and Architecture magazine. The challenge to architects was to build a home designed to express a person's life in the modern world. (http://www.eamesfoundation.org/eames-house-history/) The program attracted notable architects as: Charles Eames, Pierred Koening, Eero Saarinen, and Richard Neutra. Each of the participating architects contributed their vision of what a well-designed, mass-produced house for the average American should look like and how it should work. The houses were to built and furnished using materials and techniques learned from the experiences of the Second World War. Each home would have a real or hypothetical client that the architect would have to consider. The Eameses proposed a home for a married couple that worked in design and graphic arts, whose children were out of the house. They wanted a home that made no demands for itself and serve as backdrop for "life in work" and nature as the "shock absorber."
Presently, the house is at the forefront of the struggle to preserve well-known modern buildings around the world. Side note, in the last chapter of my thesis, I spend time discussing Japan's efforts to preserve their modernist legacy. I focus on the Nakajin Capsule Hotel and how the Japan Institute of Architects and architects around the world are rallying to save this early seventies modernist hotel. The preservation activities at the Nakajin Capsule Hotel are a microcosm of attitudes and approaches architects and preservationists are taking in considering the architecture of the post-war period. According to Susan MacDonald the head of the Getty Conservation Institute field projects, "The Eames House is of international significance and demonstrates a number of challenges that are shared across houses from this period that are publicly accessible-from environmental issues and collections management to physical conservation challenges related to the use of modern materials."
The timing of this project couldn't be better. The Eames House Foundation (http://www.eamesfoundation.org), whose duty it is to preserve the house and the designer's creative legacy, asked the GCI for assistance just as the preservation initiative was beginning to take form. By a stroke of luck, a request from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to re-create the Eames' living room for its 2011-12 exhibition "Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965" coincided with the replacement of the original floor. The floor tiles were brittle and full of cancerous asbestos and the adhesive that held them to the concrete floor was wrecked because of moisture seepage. The difficulty became finding an adhesive that wouldn't be so toxic and asbestos-free tiles that resembled the originals. Obviously a trip to Home Depot was out of the question. In the meantime, the furniture and contents of the room were the highlight of LACMA's critically acclaimed and hit show "Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965," didn't travel to the just closed at the National Art Center in Tokyo, Japan. The show was part of the Getty's original "Pacific Standard Time" exhibitions.
The Eames Foundation approached the GCI for general guidance as well as specific advice, according to Lucia Dewey Atwood, a member of the board and granddaughter of Charles and Rae Eames. The situation is unusual because it's not just the structure that being preserved, it's also the contents. One real difficulty is the light streaming through the windows, designed to produce an indoor-outdoor effect, inevitably damages sensitive building materials, fabrics, and artwork. I've seen this first hand in an inventory I did of the remaining furniture from the Freeman House (1924) by Frank Lloyd Wright. Further, it isn't just the environment inside the house, it's also the environment outside the house. There's a marine environment, so conservationists have to monitor the daily fluctuations of temperatures as well as wind, temperature, humidity, and light.
The house has been placed in nomination as a National Historic Landmark and the form can be viewed at http://www.nps.gov/nhl/designations/samples/CA/Eames.pdf. The thirty-five page document details the contributions the house has made to the advancement of American culture in the post-World War II years. The preservation of this house and others post-war modernist buildings is becoming very crucial as time progresses. It's not just landmark single family homes that deserve our attention but also commercial buildings. These post-war masterpieces were built during a time when the world was rapidly changing thanks to the optimistic mood of the United States following World War II. The Eames House is great example of accessible high-quality mass housing that were derived from the material and techniques developed during the war. If anything, it's a great space to be in.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Quick acknowledgement
I was just checking my audience and I'm floored by the growth of the people viewing this blog. You are the heart and soul of this blog. I'm forever grateful for your continued support.
Thank you
Thank you
The Future of a Los Angeles Icon
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-0062-lacma-design-20130602,06630482.story
Hello Everyone:
First of all, we broke 600, awesome thanks for all your support. Is 1000 pageviews possible? Let's do it. Now on to today's topic, the projected future of a venerable Los Angeles museum.
Yes art museums do exist in Los Angeles and some are quite good. Everyone knows the Getty Museum and Villa. In Downtown Los Angeles there is the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and The Geffen Contemporary. Moving west along Wilshire Boulevard is the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LACMA). LACMA began its life in the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art established in 1910 in Exposition Park, near the University of Southern California. In 1961, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was established as a separate art-centric entity. In 1965, the new institution opened its door at its current location on Wilshire Boulevard, with the permanent collection in the Ahmanson Building, special exhibitions in the Hammer Building, and the 600-seat Bing Theater for public programs. Over several decades, the museum has grown considerably. In 1968, The Anderson Building (renamed the Art of the Americas Building in 2007) was opened to house works of modern and contemporary art. In 1988, The Pavilion for Japanese Art by Bruce Goff opened on the east end of the campus. In 1994, the former May Company department store building was acquired by the museum and named LACMA West. More recently, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, intended to house postwar art, on the western end of the campus opened in 2008 and in the Autumn of 2010, the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion opened and in 2011 Chris Burden's Urban Light installation was opened. (http://www.lacma.org/overview) Now the director of the museum Michael Govan and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor are poised to totally remake the venerable site with a bolder more contemporary vision.
The new building, that will be unveiled in an exhibition opening June 9 titled "The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA, comes at an important time for the city. Los Angeles has historically been home to some of the innovative architecture. However, in the last several years, little in the way of architectural poetry has been produced and the city is in danger of losing its reputation for innovation. As I've said in a previous post, when it comes to novel civic architecture, Los Angeles has fallen back on academic style tropes. The lone exception being the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry and a few other projects but unique architectural design has largely been reserved for residential work. The bold contemporary design proposed by Mr. Zumthor would give the city a much needed shot in the public building arm. However, this new vision for the respected museum is not going up just yet.
There is still quite a bit of work that needs to done before the cornerstone can be laid. Both Messrs Govan and Zumthor have spent nearly five years on the project, only to come up with a conceptual design. Five years and all you have to show is a conceptual design? The Mr. Govan will have to win support, presumably from the Los Angeles County, to raze the Bing Center, Ahmanson, Arts of the America and Hammer Buildings in order to make room for Mr. Zumthor's buildings. Mr. Govan will also have to get approval from The Natural History Museum, which owns the La Brea Tar Pits, in order to let LACMA cantilever the new galleries over the tar pits. Then, of course, there is the money thing. Mr. Govan will have to raise $650 million, at $450 million to build the new structure, with the remainder as a contingency fund and other uses. The museum director has argued that the aging buildings will soon need as much as $300 million in upgrades and restoration if the museum wants to retain them. Hmm, it sounds like it would be more cost effective to spend the $300 million in upgrades and restoration then a splashy new campus.
The differences in costs aside, the new structure would be more efficient than the existing one, Mr. Govan estimates that it would $5 million less per year to operate. Regardless, the proposed building is horizontal, fluid, and dense referencing, perhaps, the tar pits. This contrasts from most of the Swiss architect's previous work which is characterized as vertical and compact, made from rich and tactile material, frugal in space and motion. As the tar that covered the site did millions of years ago, the horizontally oriented proposed design spreads freely across the property. From above, the design, nicknamed by the architect "the Black Flower," has a liquid, flowing character, another reference to the tar (maybe), that resembles the spirit of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer or a collage by modern artist Jean Arp, then anything else Mr. Zumthor has previously done.
From above, the proposed design presents a powerful graphic that spreads beyond the confines of the site into the city itself. The strongest element of the design is the way it reflects contemporary Los Angeles. Like the city, it is open and tolerant, it has no single point of entry or front staircase. It is also mysterious without being aloof, inviting multiple readings as visitors move through the space. The drawings for the new museum present an energetic rethink of the architecture of the museum. In short, what Mr. Govan is hoping to do is use the proposal as way to reject the familiar civic architectural tropes in favor of something more bold. The new building would come right up to the Wilshire Boulevard sidewalk, enabling pedestrians to walk underneath it from the street or across the museum. The new galleries would include 170,000 to 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, 45,000 square feet more than are currently housed in the buildings slated for demolition, according to estimates. The amoebic-shaped building rejects the modernist shapes of the original William Pereira designs in favor of tentacles that reach out into the northwest and northeast corners of the campus, edging back to accommodate the Pavilion for Japanese Art.
From certain angles, the buildings legs, "pods" or "cores" referred to by the architect, resemble a large animal rising out of the tar, again another reference to the site's history. From other angles, the new structure will appear transparent, open at ground level, wrapped in glass. The legs will contain ground-level storage for art not currently on exhibit, visible to the public, presenting a genuinely unique solution to a major challenge. Peter Zumthor's architecture is generally modest in scale and carefully coordinated to the human body. In most of his work, there is a single, often heavy front door, and a carefully choreographed entry sequence. You're forced to pay attention to the weight and materials and how their made. How to translate this into an architecture that is a greater scale was a dilemma for Mr. Zumthor.
The seven staircases suggest a way to resolve the issue. Mr. Zumthor wants each staircase to be different in scale and material. Good luck getting that past Building and Safety. Each will be small enough to allow the architect to control the way visitors initially come in contact with the architecture. Both Messrs. Govan and Zumthor envision the design, each of the staircases taking the visitors to a gallery holding a key piece of the LACMA collection. The galleries would be rectilinear and boxy, playing against the plastic nature of the building's container. A continuous walkway would run along the exterior, affording views of the Hollywood Hills and Wilshire Boulevard via floor-to-ceiling glass, perhaps not to be outdone by the Getty and its spectacular views. The space along the walkway, which Mr. Zumthor calls a "circular gallery" would contain rotating exhibits. The walkway would be pulled back from the building to make room for terraces at certain points, including on the west side of the building, where a restaurant could be placed overlooking Chris Burdon's installation and the rest of the campus.
Though it is still a work in progress, still full of speculative gestures, what still remains is how the it would feel to walk underneath the museum's raised floor. The questions that need to be answered are how the space would be clad or look from the ground. The main challenge will to keep the space from appearing cave-like. Little in the way of landscaping has been addressed. Lighting, a crucial element in museums, is still under discussion. Mr. Zumthor has become obsessed with the diffused light of the city. Thus it remains to be seen if this obsession will translate into an innovative approach to the lighting strategy.
The plan looks ambitious and bold for Los Angeles civic architecture. Maybe this is what civic architecture needs for the twenty-first century.
Hello Everyone:
First of all, we broke 600, awesome thanks for all your support. Is 1000 pageviews possible? Let's do it. Now on to today's topic, the projected future of a venerable Los Angeles museum.
Yes art museums do exist in Los Angeles and some are quite good. Everyone knows the Getty Museum and Villa. In Downtown Los Angeles there is the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and The Geffen Contemporary. Moving west along Wilshire Boulevard is the Los Angeles Museum of Art (LACMA). LACMA began its life in the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art established in 1910 in Exposition Park, near the University of Southern California. In 1961, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art was established as a separate art-centric entity. In 1965, the new institution opened its door at its current location on Wilshire Boulevard, with the permanent collection in the Ahmanson Building, special exhibitions in the Hammer Building, and the 600-seat Bing Theater for public programs. Over several decades, the museum has grown considerably. In 1968, The Anderson Building (renamed the Art of the Americas Building in 2007) was opened to house works of modern and contemporary art. In 1988, The Pavilion for Japanese Art by Bruce Goff opened on the east end of the campus. In 1994, the former May Company department store building was acquired by the museum and named LACMA West. More recently, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, intended to house postwar art, on the western end of the campus opened in 2008 and in the Autumn of 2010, the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion opened and in 2011 Chris Burden's Urban Light installation was opened. (http://www.lacma.org/overview) Now the director of the museum Michael Govan and Swiss architect Peter Zumthor are poised to totally remake the venerable site with a bolder more contemporary vision.
The new building, that will be unveiled in an exhibition opening June 9 titled "The Presence of the Past: Peter Zumthor Reconsiders LACMA, comes at an important time for the city. Los Angeles has historically been home to some of the innovative architecture. However, in the last several years, little in the way of architectural poetry has been produced and the city is in danger of losing its reputation for innovation. As I've said in a previous post, when it comes to novel civic architecture, Los Angeles has fallen back on academic style tropes. The lone exception being the Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry and a few other projects but unique architectural design has largely been reserved for residential work. The bold contemporary design proposed by Mr. Zumthor would give the city a much needed shot in the public building arm. However, this new vision for the respected museum is not going up just yet.
There is still quite a bit of work that needs to done before the cornerstone can be laid. Both Messrs Govan and Zumthor have spent nearly five years on the project, only to come up with a conceptual design. Five years and all you have to show is a conceptual design? The Mr. Govan will have to win support, presumably from the Los Angeles County, to raze the Bing Center, Ahmanson, Arts of the America and Hammer Buildings in order to make room for Mr. Zumthor's buildings. Mr. Govan will also have to get approval from The Natural History Museum, which owns the La Brea Tar Pits, in order to let LACMA cantilever the new galleries over the tar pits. Then, of course, there is the money thing. Mr. Govan will have to raise $650 million, at $450 million to build the new structure, with the remainder as a contingency fund and other uses. The museum director has argued that the aging buildings will soon need as much as $300 million in upgrades and restoration if the museum wants to retain them. Hmm, it sounds like it would be more cost effective to spend the $300 million in upgrades and restoration then a splashy new campus.
The differences in costs aside, the new structure would be more efficient than the existing one, Mr. Govan estimates that it would $5 million less per year to operate. Regardless, the proposed building is horizontal, fluid, and dense referencing, perhaps, the tar pits. This contrasts from most of the Swiss architect's previous work which is characterized as vertical and compact, made from rich and tactile material, frugal in space and motion. As the tar that covered the site did millions of years ago, the horizontally oriented proposed design spreads freely across the property. From above, the design, nicknamed by the architect "the Black Flower," has a liquid, flowing character, another reference to the tar (maybe), that resembles the spirit of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer or a collage by modern artist Jean Arp, then anything else Mr. Zumthor has previously done.
From above, the proposed design presents a powerful graphic that spreads beyond the confines of the site into the city itself. The strongest element of the design is the way it reflects contemporary Los Angeles. Like the city, it is open and tolerant, it has no single point of entry or front staircase. It is also mysterious without being aloof, inviting multiple readings as visitors move through the space. The drawings for the new museum present an energetic rethink of the architecture of the museum. In short, what Mr. Govan is hoping to do is use the proposal as way to reject the familiar civic architectural tropes in favor of something more bold. The new building would come right up to the Wilshire Boulevard sidewalk, enabling pedestrians to walk underneath it from the street or across the museum. The new galleries would include 170,000 to 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, 45,000 square feet more than are currently housed in the buildings slated for demolition, according to estimates. The amoebic-shaped building rejects the modernist shapes of the original William Pereira designs in favor of tentacles that reach out into the northwest and northeast corners of the campus, edging back to accommodate the Pavilion for Japanese Art.
From certain angles, the buildings legs, "pods" or "cores" referred to by the architect, resemble a large animal rising out of the tar, again another reference to the site's history. From other angles, the new structure will appear transparent, open at ground level, wrapped in glass. The legs will contain ground-level storage for art not currently on exhibit, visible to the public, presenting a genuinely unique solution to a major challenge. Peter Zumthor's architecture is generally modest in scale and carefully coordinated to the human body. In most of his work, there is a single, often heavy front door, and a carefully choreographed entry sequence. You're forced to pay attention to the weight and materials and how their made. How to translate this into an architecture that is a greater scale was a dilemma for Mr. Zumthor.
The seven staircases suggest a way to resolve the issue. Mr. Zumthor wants each staircase to be different in scale and material. Good luck getting that past Building and Safety. Each will be small enough to allow the architect to control the way visitors initially come in contact with the architecture. Both Messrs. Govan and Zumthor envision the design, each of the staircases taking the visitors to a gallery holding a key piece of the LACMA collection. The galleries would be rectilinear and boxy, playing against the plastic nature of the building's container. A continuous walkway would run along the exterior, affording views of the Hollywood Hills and Wilshire Boulevard via floor-to-ceiling glass, perhaps not to be outdone by the Getty and its spectacular views. The space along the walkway, which Mr. Zumthor calls a "circular gallery" would contain rotating exhibits. The walkway would be pulled back from the building to make room for terraces at certain points, including on the west side of the building, where a restaurant could be placed overlooking Chris Burdon's installation and the rest of the campus.
Though it is still a work in progress, still full of speculative gestures, what still remains is how the it would feel to walk underneath the museum's raised floor. The questions that need to be answered are how the space would be clad or look from the ground. The main challenge will to keep the space from appearing cave-like. Little in the way of landscaping has been addressed. Lighting, a crucial element in museums, is still under discussion. Mr. Zumthor has become obsessed with the diffused light of the city. Thus it remains to be seen if this obsession will translate into an innovative approach to the lighting strategy.
The plan looks ambitious and bold for Los Angeles civic architecture. Maybe this is what civic architecture needs for the twenty-first century.
Quick Update 6-4-13
The situation in Turkey just seems to grow literally by the second. Neither side seems to be backing down. All this over saving a park?! The nice preservationist in me says why? I realize that green space is important to a city but is saving it really worth risking life and limb? What also amazes me is that something that starts out as a good cause suddenly becomes a forum for airing national grievances. I'm concerned that this will end very badly. Let's hope for the best.
Later
Monday, June 3, 2013
Urban
http://www.crosscut.com/2013/05/17/urban/114479/chuck-wolfe-understanding-cities-through-urban-dia/
What is a diary? Actually, what is the purpose of a diary? A diary is a document that records an individual's thoughts and actions. It becomes a testament to a person's life at given time or over a lifetime. However, can a person keep a diary of a city? An urban diary? This is the topic that Chuck Wolfe addresses in his article "Understanding cities through urban diaries." Mr. Wolfe posits that an urban diary is a type of archeology. A record of buildings or objects that we are actively engaging with. Mr. Wolfe was inspired to start an urban diary after reading a column by urbanist Allison Arieff titled "Reading the City" in late 2012. The column, published in the New York Times, described she ditched a "smart city" conference in Barcelona, Spain and explored the urban spaces around her armed with nothing more than a conventional map. Ms. Arieff concluded her column with a bibliography that told the stories, the type that took place outside the conference room. Inspired by this, Mr. Wolfe attempted to keep an urban journal of his own.
Exploring a city as a way to understand the urban fabric is not a novel idea. In fact, when I travel to a new place, I like to get out an explore the city. I have little use for guide books or tours. Often times you find the most fascinating out of the way places. For example, several years ago, I was in San Francisco and I spent time walking around the city, easy to do. In my explorations, I came across City Lights Bookstore (http://www.citylights.com) and some fantastic teashops in Chinatown. Walking around a city is very human thing to do. I could never understand why tourist to Los Angeles want to spend so much time on tour buses being shuttled about to places that someone else thinks that they'd interested. You could argue, that if a person is visiting an unfamiliar city that a guided tour is a way to get acquainted with the place. Grandy Clay, the late journalist-turned-urban writer, enthusiastically advocated urban exploration as a way to read cities. In fact, contemporary urbanist articles and blog posts (including this one) frequently champion walking, biking, or using public transportation as a way to discover and experience a city's sui generis.
There are websites dedicated to extolling the virtues of the narrow side streets of Los Angeles, the alleyways of Seattle, and the Jane Jacobs-inspired walkability of Dallas (?). Kasey Klimes' essay, "The Real Reason Why Bicycles Are The Key To Better Cities," (http://www.secretrepublic.com/post/4608802363/the-real-reason-why-bicycles-are-the-key-to-better) argues that through bicycle travel, a person can develop an intimacy with the city he or she lives in a much different way than a motorist. In a car, a person is reduced to trying solve the basic puzzle, "how to get from point A to point B as quickly as possibly?" On a bicycle, a person becomes familiar with the urban intricacies. A bicycle is a more economical method of transportation and makes the concept of livability less abstract.
On that note, let's define what an urban diary is. According to Mr. Wolfe, the idea is simple, cities are hubs of human interaction, the best way to experience that urban energy is to throw yourself into it and record your experience (Mr. Wolfe's suggestion). "Urban diaries" are an important source of ongoing documentation and understanding. Ho//w you record your experiences is up to you: writing, photography, sketching, digital file that reflects time-lapsed views. They can be narrative or figurative, capture actual events, record internalized memories or intuitions. They can record elements of a city's history, culture, or climate. Mr. Wolfe's own urban diary is photo-centric.
The urban diary serves as a backdrop for documenting the urban fabric. That urban fabric has within it embedded patterns that can be discovered, read, interpreted, and reinterpreted. The diary is a depository for evidence, a place to collect "experiential understanding" of a city. An urban diary is a type of archeology which involves more than the unearthing of specific artifacts from another time. While urban diaries can be figurative or intuitive, according to Mr. Wolfe, "...we are also tangibly recording our exploration with whatever tool we choose-a pen, a keyboard, camera." The point is, that while we are making notes, we are actively engaging with a place or building. For Mr. Wolfe,
What is a diary? Actually, what is the purpose of a diary? A diary is a document that records an individual's thoughts and actions. It becomes a testament to a person's life at given time or over a lifetime. However, can a person keep a diary of a city? An urban diary? This is the topic that Chuck Wolfe addresses in his article "Understanding cities through urban diaries." Mr. Wolfe posits that an urban diary is a type of archeology. A record of buildings or objects that we are actively engaging with. Mr. Wolfe was inspired to start an urban diary after reading a column by urbanist Allison Arieff titled "Reading the City" in late 2012. The column, published in the New York Times, described she ditched a "smart city" conference in Barcelona, Spain and explored the urban spaces around her armed with nothing more than a conventional map. Ms. Arieff concluded her column with a bibliography that told the stories, the type that took place outside the conference room. Inspired by this, Mr. Wolfe attempted to keep an urban journal of his own.
Exploring a city as a way to understand the urban fabric is not a novel idea. In fact, when I travel to a new place, I like to get out an explore the city. I have little use for guide books or tours. Often times you find the most fascinating out of the way places. For example, several years ago, I was in San Francisco and I spent time walking around the city, easy to do. In my explorations, I came across City Lights Bookstore (http://www.citylights.com) and some fantastic teashops in Chinatown. Walking around a city is very human thing to do. I could never understand why tourist to Los Angeles want to spend so much time on tour buses being shuttled about to places that someone else thinks that they'd interested. You could argue, that if a person is visiting an unfamiliar city that a guided tour is a way to get acquainted with the place. Grandy Clay, the late journalist-turned-urban writer, enthusiastically advocated urban exploration as a way to read cities. In fact, contemporary urbanist articles and blog posts (including this one) frequently champion walking, biking, or using public transportation as a way to discover and experience a city's sui generis.
There are websites dedicated to extolling the virtues of the narrow side streets of Los Angeles, the alleyways of Seattle, and the Jane Jacobs-inspired walkability of Dallas (?). Kasey Klimes' essay, "The Real Reason Why Bicycles Are The Key To Better Cities," (http://www.secretrepublic.com/post/4608802363/the-real-reason-why-bicycles-are-the-key-to-better) argues that through bicycle travel, a person can develop an intimacy with the city he or she lives in a much different way than a motorist. In a car, a person is reduced to trying solve the basic puzzle, "how to get from point A to point B as quickly as possibly?" On a bicycle, a person becomes familiar with the urban intricacies. A bicycle is a more economical method of transportation and makes the concept of livability less abstract.
On that note, let's define what an urban diary is. According to Mr. Wolfe, the idea is simple, cities are hubs of human interaction, the best way to experience that urban energy is to throw yourself into it and record your experience (Mr. Wolfe's suggestion). "Urban diaries" are an important source of ongoing documentation and understanding. Ho//w you record your experiences is up to you: writing, photography, sketching, digital file that reflects time-lapsed views. They can be narrative or figurative, capture actual events, record internalized memories or intuitions. They can record elements of a city's history, culture, or climate. Mr. Wolfe's own urban diary is photo-centric.
The urban diary serves as a backdrop for documenting the urban fabric. That urban fabric has within it embedded patterns that can be discovered, read, interpreted, and reinterpreted. The diary is a depository for evidence, a place to collect "experiential understanding" of a city. An urban diary is a type of archeology which involves more than the unearthing of specific artifacts from another time. While urban diaries can be figurative or intuitive, according to Mr. Wolfe, "...we are also tangibly recording our exploration with whatever tool we choose-a pen, a keyboard, camera." The point is, that while we are making notes, we are actively engaging with a place or building. For Mr. Wolfe,
Protests in Turkey
Hello Everyone:
After a few days of both me and my trusty laptop being a bit under the weather, we're back. This time it's to bring the current news. I actually had a different blog post planned for today but current events in Turkey trumped that. If you've been following the news over the last few days, you might've read about protests in Istanbul, Turkey over the proposed demolition of Gezi Park in Taksim Square and the rebuilding of the old Ottoman military barracks for the purpose of turning it into a mall or museum. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government intends to turn the site into a museum or mall. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun03/taksim-square-istanbul-turkey-protest)
Yet, as the story is developing by, almost literally, the second, it's become apparent that it's more about the Erdogan regime then just saving a historic monument. The protests began as a peaceful sit-in to save one of the last remaining public parks in the city and has blossomed into a a very loud, very violent movement. As a preservationist by training, I've heard of people resorting to civil disobedience, such as the ubiquitous chaining oneself to a building in front of the wrecking ball, to save local monuments but nothing quite like this. So what is this really all about?
Let's start with a brief history of the square to put things in proper context. Taksim Square is located in the European part of Istanbul and is a major tourist and leisure attraction. It is considered the heart of the city and it's the site of the central station of the Istanbul Metro network. The Square is also the place where the "Monument of the Republic," crafted by Pietro Canonica in 1928 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the republic, is found. The name Taksim is Arabic for "division" or "distribution" and a reference to the point where the main water lines from northern Istanbul were collected and branched off to parts of the city. The square takes its name from the Ottoman period stone reservoir which is located in the area. Further, "Taksim" can imply to a specific improvisational form found in Turkish classical music, guided by the Makam system. The Taksim Artillery Barracks (later Taksim Stadium), built in the nineteenth century once stood in the Square. This was razed in 1940 during the construction of Taksim Gezi Park. Currently, the Ataturk Cultural Center, a multi-purpose cultural center is located in the Square and it is a gathering point for national celebrations and social events.
Gezi Park is Istanbul lone green space. The city municipality began demolition of the park this year in order to add further retail space. This prompted thousands of citizens to rally in an Occupy Taksim movement to demolition of the park. The crux of the argument is that the decision to raze the park was made to quickly without a chance for public and media debate. Those who preferred a public garden felt that their voices weren't being heard by those in power. Some of these individuals began an Occupy Gezi Park movement with the hashtag #occupygezi. Twitter is becoming the outlet for protest and solidarity. This last fact has vexed the Prime Minister so much that he has lashed out at the social media site shrilly calling it a menace. The protestors come from the broad spectrum of ideological backgrounds, including those who voted for Mr. Erdogan in the last election. Rather than engage the protestors in peaceful and meaningful dialog, the local police have opted to use force. The protestors' tents were raided and set afire. The police used pepper spray, tear gas, and pressurized water on unarmed youths sparking further reaction and creating further backlash against the government opening up old resentments. The protests have spread to the countries other provinces such as Ankara. What are the underlying issues of the current wave of protests?
There are three foundational problems that have led to the escalation of tension. The first is the lack of a solid and sophisticated opposition party. Second, as the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) faded, the Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led government has gained too much power and authority. Finally, even though Mr. Erdogan's government has been effective in limiting the role of the military to strictly military matters, yet in the process of contributing to the progress of democracy, it has not done a sufficient job in protecting freedom of speech and expression. There is temptation to see this as another Tahrir Square but, as James Dorsey a Senior fellow S. Rajartnam School of International Studies, points out in a blog today for the Huffington Post, the comparisons are not quite there. Mr. Dorsey points out that the similarities are superficial and are outpaced by the differences. The similarities are calls for the elected leader to leave office, violent police crackdown, and partial government back down. This is where the similarities end. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-dorsey/taksim-turkey-protests_b_3373997.html)
The differences are greater. Unlike the protests that toppled the North African leaders, the protests in Turkey are against a democratically elected leader who has won three elections by a respectable majority, presided over a period of significant economic growth, and repositioned his country as a regional power. Further, in contrast to Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, despite all of its flaws Turkey is a relatively civil society. The protests occurred during the week that Istanbul celebrated its capture by the Ottomans 560 years ago (really? celebrating a city's capture?). Their effect has been to send Mr. Erdogan a very clear message that the people in the park are discontented with the prime minister's authoritarian rule, its support of Sunni Muslims rebels in Syria, and increasing control of the media in an attempt to stifle independent reporting and commentary. On the second point, I would speculate that the support of the anti-Assad forces is part of a larger military, political, and economic strategy. Yet, the protests can be viewed as a warning to Mr. Erdogan and his government that the continued authoritarian streak could turn Taksim in Tahrir. Yet the questions remain as to how the Erdogan government can prevent a "Turkish Spring."
The first issue is the response to the protesters. Mr. Erdogan has warned that he can put 100 people for every one protester. Overkill to say the least. For most of the week, the protests have gone underreported in much of the media in Turkey, which is no big surprise since Turkey is ranked high on the list of media-unfriendly countries. In May, the government strengthened its grip on the media by seizing control of the financially troubled Cukurova holding television stations and Digiturk pay-TV. On the third point, the explosion of discontent has permitted secularist aligned with the CHP to turn the issue into a protest over the alleged Islamization of the country. The Secularists point to the ban on alcohol sale and the naming of a third, controversial Istanbul bridge which spans the Bosporus Yavuz Sultan Selim or Selim the Grim Bridge in honor of the Ottoman sultan widely blamed for the massacre of Alevis in the sixteenth century. O.K. It's a little like the United Kingdom renaming the London Bridge "Bloody Mary Bridge." Finally, on the second point which dovetails from the third point, Alevis accounts for an estimated twenty percent of the population. Although distinct from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite Muslims, the Alevis community view the Erdogan government's support of the Sunni Muslim rebels as further indication of the disregard for their concerns and have used the protests as a forum to voice their opposition. Again, I would speculate that Mr. Erdogan's support of the rebels is part of a greater regionally and globally orientated strategy.
Prime Minister Erdogan has ordered the Interior Ministry to investigate the crackdown on Taksim Square. This investigation will hopefully shed some light on whether or not the crackdown was a reflection of a split between the prime minister and Fethullalh Gulen, who is opposed to unrestricted Turkish support of the Syrian rebel. Mr. Gulen is currently living in exile in the state of Pennsylvania and is widely believed to have great influence within the Turkish police force. The two have previously clashed in the past year over measures to prevent soccer match-fixing. Mr. Erdogan defeated the cleric's efforts to impose harsh penalties which would've weakened the prime minister's grip and potentially strengthened the cleric's grip on the Fenerbahce FC with a fan base of millions.
Thus, it would seem that there's more to the story than merely saving a park. It's fascinating to see how people can rally around one cause then use it as a forum for wider grievances. Time will tell if the protests become a greater movement or peter out. I'll be coming back to this.
After a few days of both me and my trusty laptop being a bit under the weather, we're back. This time it's to bring the current news. I actually had a different blog post planned for today but current events in Turkey trumped that. If you've been following the news over the last few days, you might've read about protests in Istanbul, Turkey over the proposed demolition of Gezi Park in Taksim Square and the rebuilding of the old Ottoman military barracks for the purpose of turning it into a mall or museum. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government intends to turn the site into a museum or mall. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun03/taksim-square-istanbul-turkey-protest)
Yet, as the story is developing by, almost literally, the second, it's become apparent that it's more about the Erdogan regime then just saving a historic monument. The protests began as a peaceful sit-in to save one of the last remaining public parks in the city and has blossomed into a a very loud, very violent movement. As a preservationist by training, I've heard of people resorting to civil disobedience, such as the ubiquitous chaining oneself to a building in front of the wrecking ball, to save local monuments but nothing quite like this. So what is this really all about?
Let's start with a brief history of the square to put things in proper context. Taksim Square is located in the European part of Istanbul and is a major tourist and leisure attraction. It is considered the heart of the city and it's the site of the central station of the Istanbul Metro network. The Square is also the place where the "Monument of the Republic," crafted by Pietro Canonica in 1928 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the founding of the republic, is found. The name Taksim is Arabic for "division" or "distribution" and a reference to the point where the main water lines from northern Istanbul were collected and branched off to parts of the city. The square takes its name from the Ottoman period stone reservoir which is located in the area. Further, "Taksim" can imply to a specific improvisational form found in Turkish classical music, guided by the Makam system. The Taksim Artillery Barracks (later Taksim Stadium), built in the nineteenth century once stood in the Square. This was razed in 1940 during the construction of Taksim Gezi Park. Currently, the Ataturk Cultural Center, a multi-purpose cultural center is located in the Square and it is a gathering point for national celebrations and social events.
Gezi Park is Istanbul lone green space. The city municipality began demolition of the park this year in order to add further retail space. This prompted thousands of citizens to rally in an Occupy Taksim movement to demolition of the park. The crux of the argument is that the decision to raze the park was made to quickly without a chance for public and media debate. Those who preferred a public garden felt that their voices weren't being heard by those in power. Some of these individuals began an Occupy Gezi Park movement with the hashtag #occupygezi. Twitter is becoming the outlet for protest and solidarity. This last fact has vexed the Prime Minister so much that he has lashed out at the social media site shrilly calling it a menace. The protestors come from the broad spectrum of ideological backgrounds, including those who voted for Mr. Erdogan in the last election. Rather than engage the protestors in peaceful and meaningful dialog, the local police have opted to use force. The protestors' tents were raided and set afire. The police used pepper spray, tear gas, and pressurized water on unarmed youths sparking further reaction and creating further backlash against the government opening up old resentments. The protests have spread to the countries other provinces such as Ankara. What are the underlying issues of the current wave of protests?
There are three foundational problems that have led to the escalation of tension. The first is the lack of a solid and sophisticated opposition party. Second, as the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP) faded, the Justice and Development Party (AKP)-led government has gained too much power and authority. Finally, even though Mr. Erdogan's government has been effective in limiting the role of the military to strictly military matters, yet in the process of contributing to the progress of democracy, it has not done a sufficient job in protecting freedom of speech and expression. There is temptation to see this as another Tahrir Square but, as James Dorsey a Senior fellow S. Rajartnam School of International Studies, points out in a blog today for the Huffington Post, the comparisons are not quite there. Mr. Dorsey points out that the similarities are superficial and are outpaced by the differences. The similarities are calls for the elected leader to leave office, violent police crackdown, and partial government back down. This is where the similarities end. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-dorsey/taksim-turkey-protests_b_3373997.html)
The differences are greater. Unlike the protests that toppled the North African leaders, the protests in Turkey are against a democratically elected leader who has won three elections by a respectable majority, presided over a period of significant economic growth, and repositioned his country as a regional power. Further, in contrast to Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia, despite all of its flaws Turkey is a relatively civil society. The protests occurred during the week that Istanbul celebrated its capture by the Ottomans 560 years ago (really? celebrating a city's capture?). Their effect has been to send Mr. Erdogan a very clear message that the people in the park are discontented with the prime minister's authoritarian rule, its support of Sunni Muslims rebels in Syria, and increasing control of the media in an attempt to stifle independent reporting and commentary. On the second point, I would speculate that the support of the anti-Assad forces is part of a larger military, political, and economic strategy. Yet, the protests can be viewed as a warning to Mr. Erdogan and his government that the continued authoritarian streak could turn Taksim in Tahrir. Yet the questions remain as to how the Erdogan government can prevent a "Turkish Spring."
The first issue is the response to the protesters. Mr. Erdogan has warned that he can put 100 people for every one protester. Overkill to say the least. For most of the week, the protests have gone underreported in much of the media in Turkey, which is no big surprise since Turkey is ranked high on the list of media-unfriendly countries. In May, the government strengthened its grip on the media by seizing control of the financially troubled Cukurova holding television stations and Digiturk pay-TV. On the third point, the explosion of discontent has permitted secularist aligned with the CHP to turn the issue into a protest over the alleged Islamization of the country. The Secularists point to the ban on alcohol sale and the naming of a third, controversial Istanbul bridge which spans the Bosporus Yavuz Sultan Selim or Selim the Grim Bridge in honor of the Ottoman sultan widely blamed for the massacre of Alevis in the sixteenth century. O.K. It's a little like the United Kingdom renaming the London Bridge "Bloody Mary Bridge." Finally, on the second point which dovetails from the third point, Alevis accounts for an estimated twenty percent of the population. Although distinct from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite Muslims, the Alevis community view the Erdogan government's support of the Sunni Muslim rebels as further indication of the disregard for their concerns and have used the protests as a forum to voice their opposition. Again, I would speculate that Mr. Erdogan's support of the rebels is part of a greater regionally and globally orientated strategy.
Prime Minister Erdogan has ordered the Interior Ministry to investigate the crackdown on Taksim Square. This investigation will hopefully shed some light on whether or not the crackdown was a reflection of a split between the prime minister and Fethullalh Gulen, who is opposed to unrestricted Turkish support of the Syrian rebel. Mr. Gulen is currently living in exile in the state of Pennsylvania and is widely believed to have great influence within the Turkish police force. The two have previously clashed in the past year over measures to prevent soccer match-fixing. Mr. Erdogan defeated the cleric's efforts to impose harsh penalties which would've weakened the prime minister's grip and potentially strengthened the cleric's grip on the Fenerbahce FC with a fan base of millions.
Thus, it would seem that there's more to the story than merely saving a park. It's fascinating to see how people can rally around one cause then use it as a forum for wider grievances. Time will tell if the protests become a greater movement or peter out. I'll be coming back to this.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)