The Museum of the City of New York features a three screened short film, “Timescapes,” that spans across the history of New York City since its founding. The film itself was very interesting, informative, and well made, but I personally felt as if the experience was lacking. The short film, utilizing animated maps, historical photos, […]
Have you ever walked around in the city and started wondering to yourself what the land that you’re walking on looked like 400 years ago? You start asking yourself questions such as, “Were there wild animals aimlessly exploring the land for food and shelter? Did trees and shrubs blanket this land? Did the Indians have […]
In the Edifice Complex, Sudjit explains that “architecture is a means to tell a story about those who built it.” Stories that express capability, decisiveness, seduction, imitation, celebration, and ideologies of the architects, the countries and the patrons. While he sounds believable (especially because of his passion in looking for the symbolism and the whys […]
The Activist New York exhibition that I remember most vividly was the one regarding people protesting the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero. Photographs of men and women alike held up signs declaring that building a mosque was disgraceful, disrespectful, and heinous. It makes me sad that people make generalizations of this degree. Just […]
“Architecture is about power. The powerful build because that is what the powerful do.” Sudjic argues that power, dictates architecture around the world. He poses a provocative argument. At first glance, I found myself agreeing with everything he had to say. Sudjic is right about the things he says, but fails to acknowledge architecture as […]
It is difficult to ascertain any inherent meaning from a building because objects do not contain inherent meaning. Objects only have meaning because humans assign meaning to them. The text you are reading right now are mere pixels of light illuminating from a screen; that is all it is. It is a human thing to […]
The Museum of the City of New York had some great exhibitions of graffiti arts and photography of aftermath of Sandy. It was pleasant to see the City museum acknowledging graffiti as one of the categories of art rather than vandalism. However, the twenty-five minutes length media film that summarized the history of New York […]
The idea of everlasting infrastructure presenting the perfect balance of modernism and symbolism of superior authority, civil culture, and wealth being named after self is a fascinating imagination. What else can such achievers of wealth and victorious conquerors of warfare do to convey their pride and affluence? Obtaining grandeur monuments emphasizes much stronger impressions on […]
Helen Li IDC 4001H-Prof. Maciuika February 15, 2014 Originally buildings served as a shelter or haven, but as horticultural societies developed, architecture is commonly associated with economic, social, and political values. And, behind every standing or demolished building, is a meaningful story. The meaning of a building is projected through the time period and location […]
What I found most interesting about our visit to the Museum of the City of New York was the graffiti art. There has long been a debate over whether or not graffiti is art or vandalism; the MCNY clearly believes the former, since they host a variety of graffiti art on the first floor. One […]
