Gordon Matta-Clark - ephermal architecture
11-12.2020
Apartment design in Lee-Towers inspired by works of anarchitect Gordon Matta-Clark. He had a very short artistic career, which revolved around the topic of demolition. Looking for value in resecting the construction, he worked under very unusual circumstances, right before tearing buildings down. These performative acts allowed freedom of experimentation possibilities, captured in the subjective medium of video and photography.
SEE DESIGN
Introduction of the character
An architect that is more known for his “destruction” than construction, who lived shortly but intensively, and whose work has never really been shown publicly. Artist, because this is the most proper way to say about him, was born in 1943 in New York, raised with his twin brother by his mother, studied architecture at Cornell University between 1962-68, and had been active in his field for only 10 years, when lost his fight with cancer. He expressed himself mostly through cutting and reconstructing already existing sites, often not entirely legally. His final projects were unavailable for the public to experience, because of the physical danger that followed unstable and difficult surfaces.
There is still a lot to discover about him since most of the projects he realized were in buildings that were already scheduled for demolition, so now the only remains of his legacy are statements made by people he worked with, personal notes, photographs, and short movies made by himself. Gordon Matta-Clark was often criticized for his works for brutality, vandalism, and violence, only after death he was truly valued. He had a few occasions to show his art in a museum, and most of his guerilla activity was never seen by the audience. Matta-Clark didn’t speak publicly directly about the philosophy that drove him through the process of making, so conclusions made in this essay might be eligible only to the selection of information published about him.
Development of the artistic profile
One of the most important moments of Matta-Clark’s studying at Cornell was the time he met Robert Smithson. That time he discovered a topic in which he emerged completely, which is entropy. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, states entropy as a
Those two sentences are describing the body of thought which accompanied Matta-Clark in his later activities. During his engagement in the urban renewal of both New York and Paris, he expressed through his works the dynamics of the world. He consciously chose buildings submitted to demolition, to stress the topic of “presentness”. He learned from Smithson, that there are no constant objects, and those remaining elements are only slowing down the development of the new.
An architect that is more known for his “destruction” than construction, who lived shortly but intensively, and whose work has never really been shown publicly. Artist, because this is the most proper way to say about him, was born in 1943 in New York, raised with his twin brother by his mother, studied architecture at Cornell University between 1962-68, and had been active in his field for only 10 years, when lost his fight with cancer. He expressed himself mostly through cutting and reconstructing already existing sites, often not entirely legally. His final projects were unavailable for the public to experience, because of the physical danger that followed unstable and difficult surfaces.
There is still a lot to discover about him since most of the projects he realized were in buildings that were already scheduled for demolition, so now the only remains of his legacy are statements made by people he worked with, personal notes, photographs, and short movies made by himself. Gordon Matta-Clark was often criticized for his works for brutality, vandalism, and violence, only after death he was truly valued. He had a few occasions to show his art in a museum, and most of his guerilla activity was never seen by the audience. Matta-Clark didn’t speak publicly directly about the philosophy that drove him through the process of making, so conclusions made in this essay might be eligible only to the selection of information published about him.
Development of the artistic profile
One of the most important moments of Matta-Clark’s studying at Cornell was the time he met Robert Smithson. That time he discovered a topic in which he emerged completely, which is entropy. The Second Law of Thermodynamics, states entropy as a
“dissipating force within the universe, driving the physical world from a system of order to maximal disorder”.
“The increase in entropy accounts for the irreversibility of natural processes, and the asymmetry between future and past” (Zohuri, 2016).
Those two sentences are describing the body of thought which accompanied Matta-Clark in his later activities. During his engagement in the urban renewal of both New York and Paris, he expressed through his works the dynamics of the world. He consciously chose buildings submitted to demolition, to stress the topic of “presentness”. He learned from Smithson, that there are no constant objects, and those remaining elements are only slowing down the development of the new.
Doubtlessly, during the short period of Gordon Matta-Clark’s life, he brought up and examined thoroughly many architectural phenomena, as well as relations of people with the environment or the idea of temporality, dynamics, ownership, and many, many more. His art was experimental and challenging for his audience, raising the question of perception. Furthermore, he played with his art, stretching out basic concepts to the incomprehensible excess. As an alchemist, he wanted to transform the waste of the city into something new, to vitalize it before it passed on. What is most inspiring about his persona, is his extravagantly broad perspective on his subjects. Anarchitecture of all sorts brings one up to explore the topic of entropy in quotidian urban solutions.
DESIGN
