Banksy slams new world trade center in Op-Ed

[Diezel]

Ironically, many of the overseas skyscrapers that are spectacular and cutting edge are designed by American architecture firms. The problem is in the conservative-ness of those who choose the designs. Example: any of the new skyscrapers going up in SF right now, or in the last thirty years. Yawn.

That is precisely what I was getting at, and I missed adding that point.

 

[CoorsLight]

Kevin, your posts are conspicuously lacking commentary, especially since you are an artist yourself. What do you think of One world Trade?

I kind of like it. It's conservative, but it works. It's not nearly as garish as some of the buildings in post #37. Thanks, Ohio, for those pics BTW. Some of those buildings are spectacular.

Also, thanks to SFSV650. The new building 7 looks pretty nice. again, very conservative. It looks much taller than the very fragile building it replaced. Is it?

 

[kevin 714]

Kevin, your posts are conspicuously lacking commentary, especially since you are an artist yourself. What do you think of One world Trade?

I kind of like it. It's conservative, but it works. It's not nearly as garish as some of the buildings in post #37. Thanks, Ohio, for those pics BTW. Some of those buildings are spectacular.

Also, thanks to SFSV650. The new building 7 looks pretty nice. again, very conservative. It looks much taller than the very fragile building it replaced. Is it?

I tend to agree with his commentary that the building is boring and lacks any kind of audacious attitude, or response to the tragedy.

I like crazy buildings myself, but I get that it shouldnt have been like all the posts in #37, but it has no soul IMO. its boring, and like banksy said, reeks of committee thinking, which is a testament to america these days. I really love the two i posted here below. I guess I just expected the new building tp represent strangth and defiance. it does neither.

... and my current favorite, the Aqua:

 

[Beauregard]

Bottle openers./

 

[CoorsLight]

Yeah, but the second bottle opener was like $89 at The Sharper Image. I got the other one at Food4Less.

The Aqua is rad. That building with the turbines is a neat idea.

The Taipei and Dubai buildings are horrible.

Kev, I agree with you about the building lacking soul. But anything more would have probably attracted much more criticism. You can tell the architects were playing it safe, but that's probably a good thing.

 

[Diezel]

You can tell the architects were playing it safe, but that's probably a good thing.

Thats the point Banksy is making. America is going no where by playing it safe.

The US needs to stop "playing it safe". Quit dumbing shit down and taking the easy way out.

 

[kevin 714]

Yeah, but the second bottle opener was like $89 at The Sharper Image. I got the other one at Food4Less.

The Aqua is rad. That building with the turbines is a neat idea.

The Taipei and Dubai buildings are horrible.

Kev, I agree with you about the building lacking soul. But anything more would have probably attracted much more criticism. You can tell the architects were playing it safe, but that's probably a good thing.

anytinng that doesnt lack critiscm is shit

if your crap is bland enough to cause no emotion, good or bad, its crap

souless bland architecuture is what they made in soviet russia. they should have made something people love or hate, not forget entirely. as dopesick said, playimg it safe is about as anti american as you get.

not a single immigrant that this country was built on, played it safe

 

[Reli]

Wow, these two are fucking hideous. The first looks like a fucking worm or tentacle, and the second looks like a bunch of drab factory smokestacks.

 

[SteelerFanatic]

My wife an I were having this same discussion on a much smaller scale.

Driving through the west side of Livermore where construction has been going on for 2 years. They finally finished the overpass and in the concrete wall they have formed Grapes and Vines that are 3d and stick out in various parts. Her point was that they could have been done faster if they just poured regular cement and finished it flat.

Although I agreed, I said "Sure, then it will look like every other overpass and you wouldn't even have noticed. That's where we are today where we don't recognize hard work and effort and everything looks the same. Every house is cookie cutter, every office building is cookie cutter, yet this project is finally different. "

I like the Dubai idea where they could have built 2 smaller towers and the third stretches to the heavens from between them. That would have been a statement.

 

[ohio]

Wow, these two are fucking hideous. The first looks like a fucking worm or tentacle, and the second looks like a bunch of drab factory smokestacks.

Ha, I love the first one. It's nicknamed the marilyn monroe for those hips.

There's a few I included just because they made a statement whether I liked it or not.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai isn't great, but it is unique (instantly recognizable), and it's also TWICE THE FUCKING HEIGHT of the empire state building, which is a giant dick swing in and of itself. My old sculpture prof used to say if your work sucks just make it bigger and paint it red. Here's a more dramatic picture:

The Taipei 101 is probably my least favorite... not a fan of mixing retro and modern, and don't like such overt symbolism (bamboo in this case) but it's at least a statement.

On the bottle openers, that was also my first thought, but I really love the alternative approach versus a spire to achieve height into two towers with a bridge. And especially the Kingdom Tower in Riyadh (second bottle opener), the smooth curves meeting in those catenaries is just ultramodern sex.

 

[vato_loco]

Bansky, he hates America...

 

[CoorsLight]

Thats the point Banksy is making. America is going no where by playing it safe.

The US needs to stop "playing it safe". Quit dumbing shit down and taking the easy way out.

anytinng that doesnt lack critiscm is shit

if your crap is bland enough to cause no emotion, good or bad, its crap

souless bland architecuture is what they made in soviet russia. they should have made something people love or hate, not forget entirely. as dopesick said, playimg it safe is about as anti american as you get.

not a single immigrant that this country was built on, played it safe

You know, when you put it that way, I agree. I take back what I said earlier, that it's not better to be non-offensive.

Remember that nun who did shows about artwork, and it was really weird when she would talk about how sexually-charged some painting was? I don't remember her name. I do know that she was asked if the Piss Christ was art. (The Piss Christ really offended me at the time.) She said that it most definitely was art; anything that evokes strong emotions in the viewer is art. Since then, I've thought that that's a good definition of art: if it stokes some emotion in the beholder, then it is art. I should apply that thinking to One World Trade. According to that line of thought, it's not artistic; it's just a building. The comparison to Soviet Russia is a valid one.

You guys are right.

 

[Eldritch]

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/10/captain_america_in_a_turban/?upw

INDIA NEEDS LIBERTY TOO!

 

[Asphaultnaut]

good thing this street artist didn't complain about college kids or his opinions wouldn't get 5 seconds of notoriety.

 

[kevin 714]

good thing this street artist didn't complain about college kids or his opinions wouldn't get 5 seconds of notoriety.

Clearly you don't know much about banksy lol


College, art school, modern art, pretentiousness are all big targets if his


You really should let your stereotype view of the world go

 

[SFSV650]

There is some great architecture happening in the US, but skyscrapers are not the best medium in which to work, especially in the last decade or two. This is for a myriad of reasons, including the character of the organizations commissioning the buildings (as assemblages of developers and financiers they tend to be more conservative than the average of their parts), the amount of public attention they attract (everyone on earth is a stakeholder), and the relentless drive to maximize the efficiency of the floor plan.

The drive to build those 'whoa crazy' high rises in the middle east and China is not entirely unlike the urge that one guy you know has to take his junk out and wave it around at every party. Somedya he'll figure it out and just learn to tell a good joke, develop an interesting hobby, or buy a Porsche or something.

 

[Asphaultnaut]

Clearly you don't know much about banksy lol


College, art school, modern art, pretentiousness are all big targets if his


You really should let your stereotype view of the world go

just calling it as it happens here on BARF. Some things can be criticized, some cant.

Me, I see an artist who is frustrated that his little projects will not be monumental. That engineers are getting some of the glory he wants. Shame on them poindexters who finished their degrees, and the thousands of people who worked hard to get those dreams realized in steel and glass.

next, trendy tagger gets butthurt about Voyager and that the first interstellar object from humankind doesn't have his thing on it.

in a year or two, the great buildings will still be talked about, by those who understand just how many challenges were beaten, how much combined talent was required. This guy, subverted by the next pop icon.

he mad, bro.

Complaints about taking the safe route from an artist whose "edginess" fits right into the PC mold, is ironic. No artist ever lost fame in this half century by criticising business, government, or religion. Suppose that's an artistic statement in itself, no?

 

[SFSV650]

Me, I see an artist who is frustrated that his little projects will not be monumental. That engineers are getting some of the glory he wants.

Banksy gets more column inches, and his work is more highly valued in monetary terms, than the entire architecture profession combined.

 

[Johndicezx9]

You know, when you put it that way, I agree. I take back what I said earlier, that it's not better to be non-offensive.

Remember that nun who did shows about artwork, and it was really weird when she would talk about how sexually-charged some painting was? I don't remember her name. I do know that she was asked if the Piss Christ was art. (The Piss Christ really offended me at the time.) She said that it most definitely was art; anything that evokes strong emotions in the viewer is art. Since then, I've thought that that's a good definition of art: if it stokes some emotion in the beholder, then it is art. I should apply that thinking to One World Trade. According to that line of thought, it's not artistic; it's just a building. The comparison to Soviet Russia is a valid one.

You guys are right.

Sister Wendy.... I thought she was gonna have to change her undies after the way she lathered up about Caravaggio's works. Understandanble, but disconcerting....

 

[CoorsLight]

Sister Wendy.... I thought she was gonna have to change her undies after the way lathered up about Caravaggio's works. Understandanble, but disconcerting....

Bingo! I couldn't remember her name for the life of me. Very cool lady. Badly in need of orthodontia.