07 Koolhaas, Junkspace

8/20/2019 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace

1/11


2/11

all conditional space turns in o junkspace

...

When we

think

about

space,

we

have only looked

at

its

containers. As

if

space itsel

fis

invisible, all theory for

the production

of

space is based on an obsessive

preoccupation with ils opposite: substance and

objects, i.e., architecture. Architects couJd never

explain space; Junkspace

is

our

punishment

for their

mystifications.

,

lct's talk

about

space then. Thc

beauty

of

airports, especially after eaéh upgrade. The

luster of renovations. The subtlety

of

the sh0pping

center.

Let

's explore public spac;:e, discover casinos,

spend time

in

theme parks ... Jmikspace is

the

b0dy

dou ble

of

s pace, a territory

of

impaired vision, limired

expectation, reduced earnestness. junkspace is a

Bermuda lriangle

of

concepts, a pe tri dish abanclonecl:

it cancels distinctions. undermines resolve. confuses

intention

with

realization. It replaces hierarchy with

accumulation, composition with addition. More and

more, more is more. junkspace is overripe and

undernourishing at the same time, a colossal security

blanket

that

covers

the earth

in

a stranglehold

of

care ... Junkspace is like being condemned to a

perpetualJacuzzi

wit

millions ofyour bestfriends ... A

fuzzy empire ofblur, it fuses high and lovv, public and

private. straight and

bent

, bloated and starved to offer

.a seamless patchwork of the permanently disjointe:d.

Se:emingly

an

apotheosis, spatially grandiose ,

the

effect of tsrkhness

is

a terminal hollowness, a vicious

parody

of

ambition that systematically erodes

the

credfüility

of

building--. possibly fo,rever

..

. Space was

created

by

piling

matter n

top ofmatter, cemented to

forma solid new whole.Junkspace is additivc, laycrcd

and

lightweight,

not

articulated in different parts

bur

subdivided, quartered thc way a carcass is torn apart-

individual chunks severed from a universal condition.

There are no· vvalls, only partitions, shimmering

membranes frequently covered in mjrror Qr gold.

Structure groans invisibly underneath decoration,

or

w.orse, has

bernme

ornamental; small shiny space

frames support nominal loads, or huge beams deliver

cyclopic burdens to unsuspecting clestinations

...

The

arch, once

the

workhorse ofstructures, has become

the

depleted emblem

of

community, welcoming

an

infinity ofvirtual populations to non'-éxistent there 's.

Where

it

is absent, it is simply applied - mostly in

stucco - as ornamental afterthought on hurriedly

erected superblocks. Junkspace's iconography is 13

Roman. 8 Bauhaus. 7 Disney (neck

and

neck , 3 Art

Nouveau, followed closely by Mayan.

...

Like a substance

that could llave condénscd in any

other

form,

junkspace is a domain of feigned, simulaled order, a

kingdom of morphing. Its specific configuration is as

fortuitous as

the

geometry

of

a snowflake. Patterns

imply repetition

or

ultimately decipherable

ru

les;

Junkspace is beyond measure, beyond code

... Bc

cause

it cannot be grasped, . Junkspace cannot be

remembered.It is flamboyantyet unmemorable, like a

screensave'F; its refusal to freeze ensures instanr

amnesia.- Junkspace does not pretend to create

perfection. only interest. Its geomerries are

unimaginable, only makeable. J\lthough stricrly non

architectural , it tends to the vaulted, to the Dome.

Sectiqns seem to be devoted to utterJnerrness.

in pcrpetual rhetorical turmoil:

the

deadest .resides


3/11

to

the mosl

hysterical. Themes cast a pall of

interior

s as big

as the

, spawning stillbirths in cvcry cerner. The

is Byzantine, gorgeous and dark, splintercd

o rhousands ofshards, ali visible ar rhc same time: a

universe in

which

all

content

s

lves

in

splil-seconds around the dizzy

of the

beholder. Murals used to show idols;

dimensioned to carry brands;

can be shared,

brands husband

aura

at the

of

focus gro u ps.

Bra

nds

in

junkspace perform

same role as blacl


4/11

l. There is

no

progress; likc a crab

on

LSD,

sraggers

endl

essly sideways

...

The average

is

a microcosm ofjunkspace:

fctvcnr semanLics

ofhealth

slabs ofeggplant, topped

y thick

layers ofgoat cheese - cancelled by a colossal

ar

the bo LLom ....

Junk

space is draining and is

ed in return. Everywhere

injunkspace

there

ar

e

arrangements, ranges

of

modular chairs, even

if the

experience

junkspace

offers its

is significantlymore exhausting

than

any

s

paLial

sensation;

in

its mosr ahandoned

find buffers: ul ilitarian tables draped in

or black sheets, perfuncrory assemblies

of

ff

cinc and calories- couage cheese. muffins, unripe

- n

ot

ional representations of plenl)

',

wi

thou

t

and

withoutplenty.

Eac

hjunkspace is connected,

or

later, to bodily functions: wedged between

tainless-steel partirions sit rows ofgroaning Romans,

s

bunch

ed

around

Lheir huge sneakers

...

t

is so intensely consumcd.

junk

space is

natically mainrained , t

he

nighl shift undoing

the

of the day shift

in an

endless Sisyphcan replay.

you rccover from Junkspace, junkspace recovers

you: bet\.veen 2and 5 am, yet anoth

er

population,

h

is one heartlessly casual

and

apprcciably darke r, is

hovering, sweepin

g,

toweling. resupplying

..

.

unkspace does

not

inspire loyalty in its cleaners

..

.

d icatecl to instant gratificarion, Junkspace

sceds

of

fulure perfection; a language

f apology

is

woven

through

irs texturc

of

canned

phoria; pardon our a

pp

earance signs or miniaturc

llow "sorry hillboards mark ongoing palches of

announce

momentar

y discomfort

in return

immincnt

shine, Lhe a1lure of improvement.

mewhere. workers sink on rhcir lmees

ro

repair

secrions - as if

in

a prayer - or half-disappear in

iling voids to negoriare

el

usive malfünction -as

if

in

nf

ession.

All

surfaces are archaeological,

perposi rions

of

differenl periods

('.v

hat

do you call

mom

ent

a particular typc ofwall-to-wall carpet

was

urrent?) - as y

ou not

e when they're

torn

..

.

aditionally. typology implics dcmarcarion, the

finition

of

a singular mude

tha

t excludes

other

ngements.Junkspace represents a reverse typology

fcumu larive, approximative identity, less about kind

an

about

quantity. But formlessness is still form, the

mless also a typology ... Take

the

dump, where

trucks discharge

their

loads to

forma

heap,

hole

in

spite ofthc randomness

of

rs contents

and

its

amental shapelessness,

or

that

Óf

the ten

t-

lopc

that

assumes different shapes to

modate variable

interior vol

umes. - Gr

th

e

ero tehes

of

the new generation. Junkspa

ce

can

either

be absolutely chaotic or frighteningly

asepric - like a best-seller -

ove

rdetermined

and

indeterminate

at the

samc rime. There is some

thin

g

srrange aboutballrooms, for instance: huge wastelands

kept column-free für ultim.atc flexibilir

y.

Because

yo u've never been invi ted to that kind of event, you

have never seen thcm

in

use, only being pre

par

ed wilh

chilling precision: a relentless grid of circul

ar

tables,

cxtcnding towards a disLant horizon,

their

diameters

preempting commun ica rion. a dais bigenough for the

polirburo ofa totalitarian stare. vvings

announcing

as

yer unimagincd surprises - acres

of

orga

ni

zation

to

support

future drunkenness. disarray and disordcr. Or

car shows

...

Junkspace is often described as a space of

flows.

but

that is a misnomcr; flows depend on

disciplined mo

vement

, bodies

that

cohere. Junksparc

is a web without spider; allhough it is an architecture

of the masses, each rrajcctory is strictly unique. Its

anarchy is onc

of

the

lasr tangible ways

in

which

we

experience freedom. lt

is

a space of co llision. a

container ofatoms, busy, not dense ..There is a special

\vay

of

moving

injunk

space, ar

the

same time aimless

and purposeful. lt is an acquired culture. Junkspace

fearures

the

tyranny of

thc

obliviou

s:

s

omelim

es an

enlire Junkspace comes unstuck through thc non

conformiryof

one

ofits rnembers; a single citizen

of

an

another culture

- a rcfugee, a mor

her

- can destabilize

an enlire Junkspace, hold it to a rustic's ransom.

leaving

an

invisible swarh

of

obstruction

in

hi

s/

her

wake, a deregulati

on

eventua

ll

y communicated to its

furrhcst extremities. \Nhere movement becomes

synchronized,

it

curdles : on escalators, n

ear

exit

s,

parking machines, automated tellers. Sornet

im

es,

under

durcss,

in

di

viduals are channeled in a flow,

pushed through a single door or forced to ncgot

ia

te

rhc

gap

ben

veen two lemporary obstacles (an invalid's

bl

eeping chariot

anda

Christrnas trcc): rhc manitest

ll

will

such narrowing provokes, mocks

the

notion

of

flmvs. Flows injunkspace lead

ro

disaster:

department

stores

at the

beginning

of

sal

es,

th

c stampcdes

tr i

ggered by warring c:ompartments of soccer fans,

dead bodies piling

up

in front

ofthe

locked eniergenry

doors of a disco: evidence of the misfiLbetween the

portals ofjunkspace and the narrow ca librations

ofthe

old world. Theyoung instinctively avoid the Dantesque

manipulations/containers ro

wh

ich

Jun

kspace has

conclemned

their

elders

in

perpetui

ty.

Within che

mcra-playground of Junkspace exist small

er

pla

ygrounds ,

Junk

space for

chi

ldren (usually

in

rhe

leasl desirable square footage) : sections

of

sudd

en

miniaturization

-oftcn underneath slaircases, alwa

ys

near

dead ends - assemblies

of

under-dimensioned

plastic srrucrnres-slides, seesaws, sw

in

gs -shunnecl by

165


5/11

their intended audi

ence -kids -

turned in

o

junkniche

for

the

old,

th

e lost.

the

forgonen,

the

insane

..

last

hi

cc

up of humanism ...

Traffic is junkspace, from

airspace to [be subway: the

entire

highway system

is

pace, a

v

ast polenlial ulupia

clogged

y

its users,

notice

when the

y've finally disappeared

on

acation

... Like

radioactive waste,

junkspace

has

an

insidious half-life. Aging

injunkspace

is

nonexistent

or

an entire junkspace

- a

epar

tment store, a

ni

ghtcl

ub

, a bachelor pad -

turns

inro a

slum

overnight without warning: wattage

imperceptibly. leners

drop

out ofsigns,

air

ditioning units slarL dripping, cracks appear as if

rwise unregis[ered earthquakes; sections rot,

e no longer viable,

but remain

joined to the flesh of

he

main

body via gangrenous passage

s.

Judging the

uilt presumed a static condition; now each

embodies opposi te conditions

old

and

new,

permanent and

emporary, flourishing and

at

risk.

..

Sections undergo

n Alzheimer-like deterioration as

others

are

endless, it is never

... Renovation and restoration were

procedur

es

hat

took place in your absence; now you re a wimess, a

eluctant participanr.... Seeing Junkspace in

is like inspecting an

unmad

e bed, someone

se's .Say

an

airport needs more space. In the past new

erminals were added, each more or less characteristic

f

its own age. leaving

the

old

one

s as a

readab

le

eco

rd

,

e v i d ~ n e of

progress. Since passengers have

strated

their

infinite malleability,

he

idea ofrebuilding

on the spot

has gained currency.

are

thrown in reverse. signs taped, potted

(

or

very large corpses) covered

in

body

bag

s.

oftaped

sheetrocksegrcgare two populations:

wel, one dry

one

hard. one flabby one cold, one

hcatcd.

Half

the

population

produces new space,

more affluent

half consumes old space.

To

a nether world

of manual

labor,

the

e

suddenl

y turns

into

casbah: improvised

breaks, smoking, even real

fires ... The ceiling is a crumpled plate like the

grids of unstable tiles alternare wirh

onogrammed sheets of black plastic. improbably

unctured by grids ofcrystal chandeliers ... Metal ducts

ced by brealhing textiles. Gapingjoint'i reveal

iling vo ids (former canyons ofasbestos?}, beams,

insulation, fireproofing.

string

;

gled arrangements suddenly exposed ro daylight.

, tortured and

co

mplex. they exist only because

were never consciously plotted. The floor

is

a

ent

texrures -concrete, hairy,

heavy

h

iny plastic. metallic,

mudd

y -alternare randomly, as

if

dedicated to different species

...

Thc

ground is

no

more. There are too

many

raw needs to be realized on

only

one

plane. The absolute

horizontal

has been

abandoned. Transparency

has

disappeared, replaced

y

a

den

se

crust of provi

s

ional occupation

: kiosks.

carts, strollers,palms,

fount

ains ,bars. sofas, trolle

ys ...

.

Corridors

no

lo

nger

simply

link

to

B. but have

become dcstinations. Their

tenanr

lite tcnds to be

short:

the

most srngnant windows.

the

most

perfunclory

dresscs, the most implausible flowers. All

perspccrive is gone, as

in

a rainforest (itse

lf

disappearing, they keep saying ..). The formerly

straig

hr

is coiled into ever more complex

configurations. Only a perverse modernist

choreography can explain the twists and turns, ascents

and

descent

s.

s

udden

reversals

that

comprise the

typical path from check-in (misleading name) to apron

of he average contemporary airport. Beca use we never

reconstruct

or

question the absurdity ofthese enforc

ed

dérives, we meekly submit to grotesque journeys past

perfume. asylum seeker, building site, underwear.

oysters, pornography, cell phone - incredible

adventures for the brain, the eye, the nose. the tongue.

the womb, the resticles ... There was once a polemic

about

the right angle

and

the stra

ight

linc; now

th

e

90th

degree has become one

among

many.

In

fact

remnants

of former geomerries create evernew havoc

offering forlorn nodes of resistance that creare

unstable eddies

in

newl

y

opportunistic

flows

...

Wh

o

would dare claim responsibili ty for this sequcnce?The

idea that a profession once dictated, or at leasr

presumed to predict, pcople's movements, now seems

laughable,

or

worse: unthinkable. Insrcad of desi

gn

,

there

is calculation: the more erratic

the path.

eccentric thc loops, hidden

the blueprint

,

the

m

ore

efficient the exposure,

ine

v

it

able the transaction. n

this

war, graphic designers are the great turnco;us:

where

once signage promised

to

deliver you to

wher

e

you wanted to be, il now obfuscates and entangles you

in

a thicket ofcuteness

that

forces you past

unwanr

ed

detours,

turns

you back

vvh

en y

ou re

lo

sL

Postmodcrnism adds a crumple-zone

of

viral po

tha:

fractures

and

multiplies

the

endless frontline

o:

display, a peristaltic shrink-wrap crucial to aL

commercial exchange. Trajectories are launched as

ramp, turn horizontal

without

any

warnin

g, intersea:.

fold down, suddenly emerge on a vertiginous balcony

above a large void. Fascism minus dictator. From rbe

sudden

dead

eu

d where you were dropped by

2

monum

e

ntal

. granite staircase,

an

escalator

tak

es

you

toan invisible destination, facing a provisional vista

plaster, inspired by forgettable sources. (There is C

datum level; yuu always

inh

abita sandvvich. Space-


6/11

out ofJunkspace as from a soggy block of ice

has langu ishcd too long

in

the freezer:

ndrical. cone shaped, more or le

ss

spherical,

ver ...) Toilet groups murare inro Disney Store

morph ro become meditation center: successive

mock rhe word "plan." The plan is a

n vvhere individual pulses survive for

of

Lime

in

a Bacchanalian free-

In this srandoff berween

thc

redundant and

inevitable. a plan would actually make matters

, drive you to

instant

despair. Only

the

diagram

a bearable version.There is zero loyalty-and zero

- toward configuralion, no "original"

ndition; architecture has turned into a t m

e l a p s e

to revea a "perman

ent

evolution" ... The only

is conversion -continuous - followed, in rare

by "restoration

,

t he process that claims ever

sections

of

history as extensions

of

Junkspace.

corrupt

s,

absolute history corrupts absol'utely.

r and matter are eliminated from these bloodless

the bland has become the only meetingground

the

old and

the

new ... Can

the

bland be amplified?

exaggerated? Through height?

Len

gth? Variation? Repetition? Sometimes

not

but

its opposite. an absolute absence

of

detail,

Junkspace. A voided conditionof frighrening

hocking proof that so

much

can be

by

so

lillle. Laughable emptiness infuses

thc

e

or

rentative embrace

that

maintain in

Lhe

presence of the past,

or not. Invariably,

the

primordial decision is

intact; the formerly residual

is

larecl the new essence, focus

ofthe

intervention. As

,

thc

substance to be preserved

is

wrapped

in

of

commerce a

ncl

catering - like a

luctanr skier pushcd downhill by responsible

To show respect, symrnetries are rnaintained

helplessly exaggerated; ancient building

resurrected and honed to irrelevant

quarries reopened to excavate the "sarne" stone,

names chiseled prom

in

ently

in the

of typefaces; the courtyard covered

by

a

l, strncn1ra "filigree·· emphatically

-so that conlinuity may be established

the

"rest" of

Junk

space (abandoned galleries.

slums,

jurass

ic conc.:epts ...). Conditioning is

filterecl daylight reve als vast, antiseptic

panses of monumental rcticence and makes then1

as a cornputer rendering

...

The

of public space: latent fascism safely smothered

signagc, stools, sympathy

...

junkspace is post

i makes you un

ce

rtain where you are.

res where you go, undoes where you were. Who

do you

thinkyou

are? Who do you want to be? (Note to

architects: you thoughl

that

you could ignore

Junkspace, visit it surreptitiously, treat it with

condescending contempt or enjoy it vicariously ..

because you could

nor

understand it. you've thrown

away the keys

....

But now your own architecrure

is

infected, has become equally smooth , ali-inclusive.

continuous, warped, busy, atrium-ridden

...

,

junkSignaturen• is the new architecture: rhe former

megalomania of a protession contracted te

manageable size. junkspace rninus its savingvulgarity

Anything stretche

cl

- limousines, body parts. planes ·

turns

into

Junk

space. its original concept abused

Restore. rearrange . reassemble, revamp, renovare

revise, recover, redesign,

return

- the Parthenor.

marblcs - redo. respect. rent: verbs that starl with re

producejunkspace ...Junkspacewill be

our

tomb. Hal:

of

mankind pollutes to produce.

the other

pollutes te

consume. The combined pollution of all Third Worlc

cars, mororbikes, trucks, buses, sweatshops pales in

tc

insignificanc.:e compared

to

the heat generated b)

Junkspace. Junkspace is political: it depends on

th<

central removal of the critical faculty in

th

e name o

comfort and pleasure. Politi

cs

has become manife

stc

by

Phot

os

hop, seamless blueprints of the m u r u l l

exclusive, arbitrated by opaque

NGOs.

Comfort is th(

new Justice. Entire miniature states now adop

Junkspace as political program, establish regimes o

engineered disorie

ntation

, instigare a politics o

systematic disarray. Not exactly "anything goes";

l

fact,

the

secret of Junkspace is that it is hotl

promiscuous and rcpressive: as the formles

prolifera es,

the

formal withers, and with ir

all

rules

regulations, recourse

...

Babel has bccn misunderstood

Languagc is not

the

problem, just the new frontier o

junkspace. Mankincl, turn by eternal dilcmmas, th1

impasse ofseem ingly endless debates, has launched ;

new

language that straddles unbridgeable divides lik

1

a fragile designer's footbridge

..

coined a proactiv.

wave

of

ncw oxymorons to suspend forme

incompatibilicy: life/style, reality{TV, world/music

museum/store. food/court , health/carc

waiting/lounge. Na

ming

has replaced class srruggle

sonorous amalgamations of status, high-conccpt an

history. Through acronym, unusua1

import

atior.

su ppressing letters, or fabrication of non-existen

plurals, they aim to shed meaning

in rcturn

for

spacious new roominess .... Junkspace knows all you

emotions, all your dcsircs. It is the interior

of

Bi

Brother's belly.

t

preempts people's scnsations. l

comes wilh a soundtrack, smell, captions; i blarancl

proclaims how

it

wants

to

be read: rich, srunning, coo

hu

ge, abstract, "minimal." historical. It sponsors

ó


7/11

collective

ofbrooding

consumers in surly anticipation

of heir

next

spend, a mass of efractory periods

caught

in

a Thousand Year Reign ofRazzmatazz, a paroxysm

of

prosperiry.The

subject

is stripped of privacy

in

return

for access to a

credir nirvana.

You are complicit

in

the

tracing of the fingerprints

each

of your transactions

leaves;

[hey

know everything about you,

except

who

you are. Emissaries

of

Junkspace pursue you in the

formerly imperVious privacy of the bedroom: the

minibar, prívate fax

machines,

pay TV ofkring

compromised

pornography

, fresh plastic veils

rapping toilet seats, courtesy condoms:

minia

Lure

profit centers coexist with your bedside bible

..

.

unkspace

pretends to unite,

but

i t actually splinters. It

creares

conununities

not

of shared interest or free

association, butofidentical statis.tics and unavoidable

demographk-s,

an

opportunistic weave

of

vested

inrerests. Each man,

woman

and child is individually

targeled, tracked, split

off

from the rest.... Fragmenls

come

together

at

"security" only, where a grid ofvideo

screens clisappointingly reassembles individual frames

into

a banalized, u t ilitarian cubism that reveals

overall coherence

to

the dispassionate

glare ofbarely trained guards: videoethnography in its

brute form. Just as junkspace is unstable , its actual

ownership is forever being passed

on

in

parallel

disloyalty.Junkspace happens spontaneously

tluough

natural

corporate

exuberance - the unfettered play

of

the market - or is generated through the combined

actions oftemporary 'czars'wüh longrecords ofthree

dimensional philanthropy, bureaucrats (often former

leftists)

that

optimistically sell off vast tracks

of

waterfront. former hippodromes, military bases

and

abandoned airfields to developers orreal estate rnoguls

that can accommodate any deficit in futuristic

alances,

or

through

Default

Preservation

rn (the

maintenance of historical complexes

that

nobody

ants

but

the Zeitgeist has declared sacrosanct).As its

scale

mushrooms

- rivals ancl even exceeds

that of the

Public -

it

s ec

onom

y becomes

more

inscrutable. Its

financing

is

a deliberate haze, clouding opaque deals,

dubious

tax breaks, unusual incentives, exemptions.

Lenuous legalities, Lransferred air rights. joined

properties , special zoning districts, public-private

i ies. Fundecl by bonds, lottery, subsidy, charity,

an erratic flow ofyen , euros and dollars (Y€$)

financia envelopes that

are

as fragile as their

Because

of

a structliral shortfall, a

tal dcficit. a

contingent bankruptcy

,

each

inc

h becomes a grasping,

needy

surface

on

coven

or

overt

suppon, discount

,

and fundraising. For culture, "engraved

onor bricks": for everything else:cash, rentals , leases,

franchises, the underpinning of

brands.

Junkspace

expands with

the economy

bul iLs fooLprint cannot

contract

..

when it is

no

longer needed ,

t

thins.

Because

of

its

tenuous

viability, Junkspace has to

swallow more and more program

to

survivc; soon , we

will be able

to

do any

thing

anywhere. We will have

conquered place. At the

end

of Junkspace, the

Universal?

Through

Junkspace old aura is transfused

with new

luster to spa\vn suelden comrnercial viability:

Barcelona amalgamatcd with the Olyrnpics, Bilbao

with Guggenheim, 42nd with Disney. God is dead,

the

author

is clead, historyis dead ,onlythe architect is lefr

standing

.. an

insu

lting evolutionary joke ...A shortage

of masters

has

not stopped a

proliferation of

masterpieces. "Masterpiece"

has

be

come

.a definitive

sanction, a

semantic

space that saves the object from

criticism, leaves its qualities unproven, its

performance untest

e

cl

, ts motives

unquesrioned.

Masterpiece

is

no

longer

an

inexplicable fluke. a roll

of

thé

dice,

but

a consistent typology:

its

mission

to

intimidare

, most

of

i ts exLerior surfaces bent,

hu

ge

percentages

of

its

square

footage dysfunctional. its

centrifuga

components barely hekl

together

by the

pull of the atrium, dreading the

imminent

arríval of

forensic accounting ... The more indetermi

nate the

city, the more specific its Junkspace; all Junkspace's

prototypes

are urban - the Roman Forum, the

Metropolis; it is only their reverse synergy that makes

them suburban, simultaneously swollen and shr un k.

Junlcspace reduces

what

is urban to urban ity . lnstead

of public life, Public Spacen

1

:

what

remains

of the

city

once the unpredictabk has been removed ... Space for

"honoring," "sharing," "caring," "grieving" and

"healing" .. civili ty imposed by an overdose

of

s rif

. ..

n

the third

Millennium, junkspace will assu

me

responsibility for

pleasure and

religion, exposure

aud

íntimacy

pub

lic life

and

privacy. Tnevitahly,

the

death

ofGod (and the

author

)has spawned orphaned space:

Junkspace is

authorless,

yeL surprisingly

authoritarian

...

At

the mom

e

nt

of

its

greate

sr

emancipation,

humankind

is subjected to

the mosr

dictatoria

l scripts: from the

pushy

ciration of the

waiter, to

the

answering gulags

on Lhe olher end

of

h

e

telephone, the safery instructions

on

the

ai

rplane.

more

and more insiste¡:it perfumes, mankind is

browbeaten to submit to the most harshly engin

eered

pl

otline ..

. The chosen theater of

megalomaní

a - the

dictatorial - is no longer politics,

but

entertainmenL

Through Junkspace , entertainment organizes

hermetic

regimes

of

ultimare exclusion and

concentration:

concentration

gambling.

concentration golf. concentration convention.

concentralion

rnovie, concentration

cultu

re.


8/11

concentration

holiday. E

nt

ertainment is like watching

a once hot planet cool off; its majar

invent

ions are

ancienr: rhe moving image, the roller coaster, sound.

cartoons

. clowns, unicycles. dinosaurs, news, war.

Except celcbritics -

of

wh1ch

there

is a

dramatic

shortage - we have

added

noLhing, jusl reconfigured.

Corporainmcnt is a

galary

in contraction , forced ro go

rhrough the

motions by ru hless

Copernican

laws. The

secret

of

corpo

r

ate

aesthetics was

rh

e power

of

elimination,

thc

cckbration of

the

efficient, the

eradication of

excess:

abstraction

as camouflage,

the

search

for a Corporate Sublime. On

popular dcmand,

organized beauty has become warm. humanist,

inclusivist, arbitrary, poelic and unrhreatening: water

is pressurizcd through vcry small hoJes,

then

forced

into rigorous

hoops: straight palms are

bent into

grotesque poses, air is burdenecl

wilh

added oxygen- as

if

only forcing mallcable substances

into

the

most

drastic

contortions

main

ains control, sa

isfies

thc

drive

to

get rid of surprise. Not canned laughter,

but

canned euphoria ... Color

has

disappcarcd to


9/11

=:.::: =. 2.:bcr:eal Ba roque.... Ou tside,

between

the

:onn

rains

projecr en ire Stalinist buildings of

: t p i i ~ ejacul

aced

in

a split-second,

hovering

. Lhen

withd

rawn with an amnesiac

ncy-.

... Air, water, wood: all

are

enhanced to

Hyperecology

1

M • a parallel Walden, a new

t. Landscape has become j unkspace, foliage as

o

ilage: trees

are tortured,

lawns cover

human

like thick pelts

or

cven toupees,

rinklers

water accorcling to mathematical

..

Seemingly

at

the

op

posite

end

of

the golf

course

is

in

fact its

conceptua

l

le; empty, serene, free ofcommercial debris. The

lative evacualion ofthe golf

coursc

is achieved bythe

charging

ofJunkspace. The methods of their

and realization

are

similar: erasure, tabula rasa,

fi

guratio

n.Junkspace

rurns

in o biojunk; ecology

ecospace. Ecology

and

ec

onom

y have

bonded in

as ecolomy.

The economy

has become

;

hyperdevelopment

depends on artificial

a

huge

global

bureaucracy

is in

making to settle, in a colossalyin/yang, the

balan

ce

nkspace

and

golf. betwecn the scraped and

scaped. trading che right to despoil for the

tion to create steroid rainforests in Costa Rica.

cn banks, Fort Knoxes ofchlorophyll, eco-reserves

blank

check

for fürther

pollution.

Junkspacc is

che apocalypse; we may die of oxygen

... In the

past

, the complexities ofjunkspace

nsated

by the st

ark

rawness

of its

adjunct

parking garages, filling stations,

centers

that

routinely displayed a

purity

that was the original aim of

Now, massive injections oflyr icism have

infrastructure - the one domain previously

to design, laste or the markerplace - to join

e world of unkspace. and for

Junkspace

to

extend

its

tions under the sky. Railway stations unfold

n butterflies,

airports

glisten like cyclopic

bridges s

pan

often negligible banks likc

uely

enlarged

versions of the

harp.

To each

ils own Calatrava. (Sometimes when

there

is a

wind, this new generation of insrruments

if being played hy a giant, or maybe a God,

manki

nd

shudders

...)Junkspace

can

be

airborne,

malaria to Sussex; 300 anopheline mosquitoes

e each day ar GDG

and

G1W wich the theoretical

ro infect 8

to

20 locals

in

a 3 mile radius, a

a

za

rd

exacerbated by

the

average passenger's

ctance, in a

misplaced gasp

of quasi-autonomy, to

disinfected once

he

or she has buckled up for thc

rn journey from the dead cnd of the tourist

destination.

Airports, provisiona l accommodarion for

those going elscwhere, inhabiled by assemblies united

only

by the imminence of

thcir

dissolution, have

turned

into

consumption gulags, demo

cratica

lly

distributed across

the

globe to givc every citizen

an

equal

chance of admission ... MXP looks as if all thc

leftovers

of

East Germany's reconstruction - whatever

vvas

needed to

undo the

deprivations

ofCommunism

have b

een

hurricdlybulldozed together according to a

vaguely rectangular blueprint to form

a

botched

sequence ofdeformed, inadequate spaces,

apparently

willed into

being

by the current

rulers

of

Europ

e,

cxtorting limitless euros from rhc conununity s

regional funds, now

causing

endless delays for irs

duped

taxpayers too busy

on

cell phones to notice.

DFW is composed of three elements only, repeated ad

infinitum . nothing else: one kind ofbeam,

on

e kind of

brick,

one kind oftile,

ali

coated

in

the

same

col

or-is

it

teal? Rust?Tobacco? Its symmetries scaled beyond

any

recognition, rhe endless curve ofits terminaIs forces its

users to

enact

reJativity

thcory

in their quest for the

gate. Its drop-off is the seemingly

harmless

bcginning

ofa journey to the heart of unmitigated nothi ngness,

beyond animation by Pizza ut Dairy

Queen

... Valley

cultures were thought to

be

the most re

sistant

to

junkspace: at VZ

you can still see a universe ofrules,

order, hierarchy,

neatness

,

coordination,

poised

moment

s before irs implosion.

but

ar Z

HR

huge

timepieces hover in front ofinterior waterfalls asan

essay in Regionaljunk. Dury-free is

Junk

space,

]unkspace is

dut

y-free space. Where culture was

thinnest, will

i t

be the first to run out?

Is

emptiness

local?

Do

wide

open

spaces demand

widc open

Junkspace? Sunbelt:

huge

populations where

there

was nothing; PHX: warpaint on every

terminal,

dead

lndian outlines on every surface · carpet, wa llpaper,

napkins -

lik

e frogs

flatten

ed by car tires. Public Art

distributed across

LAX:

the fish that have disappeared

from

our

rivers

rcturn

as public

art

in the

concourse;

only

whal

is dead

can

be resurrecred. Memory

itself

may have turned

in

to Junkspace; only those murder

ed

will be remembered ... Deprivation can be ca used by

overdose or

shortage

; both co

nditions

happen in

Junkspace

(often

at

the same time). Minimum is the

ultimare

ornament,

a self-righteous crime, the

conte

mporary

Baroque. It


10/11

the

sublime,

but

to minin1ize the shame

consumption, drain embarrassment, to lower the

imum now exists in a state ofparasitic co-

pendency

with

overdose: to have and not to have,

and owning, finally collapsed in a single

... Museums are sanctimonious Junkspace; no

aura than holiness.

To

accommodate

the

they have attracted by default, museums

turn bad space

in

o good space;

the

more

the

oak.

the

larger

the

profit center.

ies inflated to the scale

of

clepartment stores:

is the

third millennium's entropy,dilute

or

to respectmostly the dead,

no

cemetery

d dare to reshuff1e corpses as casuallyin the name

f current

expediency; curators plot hangings

and

in

a donor-plate labyrinth with

finesse

of

the retailer: lingerie becomes Nude,

tion,

Body,

cosmetics Histor

y,

Memory, Society.

paintings based on black grids are11erded together

a single white room. Large spiders in the

conversion offer delirium for

the

....

Narrative reflexes

that

have enabled us from

beginning

of time

to connect dots, fill

in

blanks,

turned against us: we

cannotstop

noticing:

no

, meaningless, insulting ..

ugh

our

ancient evolutionary equipment, our

rrepressible attention span, we helplessly register,

rovide insight, squeeze meaning, read intention;

we

annot stop making sense outof he utterlysenseless ...

On its

triumphal march

as

content

provider. art

cxtends

far

beyond the museum's ever-increasing

boundaries. Outside, in

the

real world,

the

art

planner spreads Junkspace's fundamental.

incohei,-ence by assigning defunct mythologies to

residual

:su

rfaces and plotting three-dimensional

works in leftover

empt

iness.Scouting for authenticity,

their touch seals the

fa

te

of

what was real, taps it for

incorpo

ralion

in

Junkspace. Art galleries move

en

masse to

where

it is edgy, then convert raw space

in

o

white cubes

...

The only legitima e discourse is loss; art

replenishcs Junkspacc

in

dircct proportion to its own

morbidity. We used to renew

what

was depleted, now

we try to résurrect what is gone.... Outside, the

architect's fo0tbridge is rocked to

the

breaking point

by a stampede of enthusiastic pedestrians; -the

designers' init ial audacity now await5 the enginee.r's

application

of

dampers. Junkspace is a look-no-hands

world

...

The constant

threat

ofvirtuality in.Junkspace

is no longer exorcized by pettochemical products,

piastic, vi

ny.l or

rubbér;

the

.syn

th

etic cheapens.

junkspace has to exaggerate its claims to

the

authentic.

Junkspace is like a womb

that

organizes the transition

of

endless quantilies

of

the Real - srone, trees.

go1

daylight. pcoplc-into theunreal . Entire mountaim

dismembered to provide ever-greater quantitie·

authenticity, suspended on precarious bracl

polished to a blinding state of flash thal renders

intended earnestness instantly clusive. Stone •

comes in lightyellow, flesh, a violent beige, a soap

green.

the

colors

of

CommunisL plastics

in

the

lS

Forests are tellcd,

their

wood is all pale: maybe

origins of junkspace go back to

the

Kindergart

( Origins is

a mint shampoo

that

stings

the

region). Color

in the

real world looks increasi

unreal. drained. Color

in

virtual space is lumir

therefore irresistible. A surfejt of reality

TV

has n

us in to

amateur

guards

monitoring

a junkunive1

From the lively breasts

of

the classical violinist,

t

designer stubble

of

the Big Brother outcast,

contextual pedophilia

ofthe

former

e v o l u t i o n r ~

routine addictions

of the

stars, the runny make1

the evangelist, the robotic body language o1

conductor.

the

dubious benefits

of the

fundra

marathon, the futile explanations ofthe politicia1

swooping movement

of heTV

cam-era suspended

its

boom

- an eagle

without

beak or claws,

ju

optical stomach - swallows images and confes

indiscriminately, like a trash bag. to propcl thE

cyber-vomit

in

space.

TV

studio sets - gai

monumental

are

both

Uie

culmination and the

E

perspectival space as we've known it: an

geometric remnants -invading

s ~ r r y

infini t es

space editedfor smooth transm.issiou in virtual s

crucial hinge in

an

infernal feedback loop

vastness ofjunkspace extended to the edges

oftl

Bang. Beca use we spend our life indoors -like an

in

a

~

-we are obsessea

with

t h ~ wealher:

4

TV

consists

of

presenters

of

Jesser attractiv

gesturing helplessly in front ofwindswept forma

through

which you recognize, sometimes,

you1

destination/

current

position. Conceptually,

monitor, each

TV

screen is a substitute for a vvü

real lifc s inside, cybcrspacc has become

the

outdoors.... Mankind is always going on .

arch itecture. What

if

space started looking atman

Will Junkspace invade the body?Through

the v

the cell phone? Has t alrcady? Botox injec

Collagen? Silicone implants? Liposuction?

enlargements? Does gene therapy announce a

reengineeril1g acc0rding to Junkspace?

Is

each a

mini-constructionsite?Mankind

the

sum of3

to 5

l

individual upgrades? Is

ita

repertoire

of

reconfigu

that facilitates the intromission of a new species i

self-madeJunksphere? The cosmetic is the ne\\ cos


11/11

sublime. but to minimize the shame

consumption, drain embarrassment, to lower the

r. Minimum now exists

in

a state

of

parasitic

co

with

overdose: to ha

ve

and

not to

have,

nd awning, finally collapsed

in

a single

... Museums are sanctimoniousJunkspace; no

th n holincss. To accommodate the

have attracted by default, museums

ly

turn

"bad" space in to "good" space; the more

the oak, the larger the profit center.

to the scale ofdep rtment srores:

is

the thi rd millennium's entropy. dilute

or

to

respect mostly the

clead,

no cemetery

dare to reshuffle corpses as casually in the n me

f current cxpcdicncy; curators plot hangings

nd

encounters

in

a donor-plate labyrinth with

of

the retailer: lingerie becomes "Nude,

Body,

" cosmetics "History, Memory, Society."

i paintings bascd on black grids are herded together

a single white room. Large spiders in the

conversion offer delirium for the

... Narrative reflexes

th t

have enabled us from

of time to connect dots, fill

in

blanks,

against u

s: we c nnot

stop noticing: no

too absurd, trivial, meaningless, insulting

..

our

ancient evolutio

n ry

equipment,

our

span, we helplessly register,

insighL, squeeze meaning, read intention;

we

ot stop making sense

outof

he

utterlysenseless

...

its triumph l m rch

as

content provider,

rt

beyond the museum's ever-increasing

Outside, in the re l world, the "art

spreads Junkspace's fundamental

by

assigning dcfunct mythologies to

surfaces nd plotting three-dimensional

in

leftov

er

cmptiness.Scouring for authenticity.

touch seals the f te

of wh t

was real , taps it for

in

Junkspace. Art galleries move en

ro

where

i t

is

edgy, t

hen

convert raw space in to

cubes ...The only legitima te discourse is loss;

rt

shes junkspacc

in

direct proportion to its own

We

used to renew

wh t

was depleled, now

try

to resurrect what

is

gone.... Outside,

the

footbridge

is

rocked to the breaking point

a srampede of

enth

usiastic pcdcstrians; the

ers' inicial audacity now awaits the engineer's

of

dampers. Junkspace

is

a look-no-hands

...The constant threat ofvirtuality injunksp ce

no longer exorcized by petrochemical products,

, vinyl

or

rubber; the synthetic cheapens.

exaggerate its claims to the

u

thentic.

is like a womb th l organizes the transition

of

endless quantities

of

the

Real

- stone. trees. goods.

daylight, people-into the unreal.

En

tire mountains are

dismembered

to

provide ever-greater quantitics of

authcnricity, suspended

on

precarious brackets,

polished to a blinding stale uf Oash LhaL

re11ders

rhe

intendcd earnestness instantly elusive. Stone only

comes in lightyellow, flesh, a violem beige, a soap-like

green,

Lhe

colors

of

Communist plastics in rhe 1950s.

foresrs are felled , their wood

s

all pale: maybe the

origins of Junkspace go back to the Kindergarten

..

("Origins"

is

a mine

sh m

poo

th t

stings the anal

region). Co lor in the real

worlcl

looks increasingly

unre l

, drained. Color in virtual space is luminous,

therefore irresistible. A surfeit

of

reality TV has made

us

in

o amateur guards monitoring a Junkuniverse ...

From the lively breasts

of the

classical violinist, to

the

designcr srubble

of

the Big Brother outcast, Lhe

contextual pedophilia

of

he

former revolutionary.

the

routine addictions

of

the stars, the runny makeup

of

the evangclist, the robotic body language of che

conductor, the dubious benefits

of

the fundraising

marathon, the futile explanations ofthe politician: the

S\-vooping

movement of he TV camera suspended from

its boom - n eagle vvithout beak

or

claws, just n

optical stomach - swallows irnages

nd

confessions

indiscriminately, like a trash bag, to propel

them as

cyber-vomit in space.

TV

studio sets - garishly

monumental-are both the culmination nd the end

of

perspectiva space as we've known

ir:

angular

geometric remn nts invading starry infinities; real

space edited for

smooth

transmission in virtual space,

crucial hinge

in

n infernal feedback loop

..

.

the

vastness ofjunkspace extended to the edges of the

Big

Bang.

Beca

use

we

spend

our

life indoors -like animals

in a zoo -

we

are obsessed with che weather: 40%

of

all

TV consists of presenters

of

lesser attractiveness

gesturing helplessly

in

front ofvvindswept formations,

through which you recognize, sometimes. your own

destination/curre

nt

position. Conceplually, each

monitor, each V screen

is

a substitute for a window;

real life is inside, cyberspace has become the gre t

outdoors.... Mankind

is

always going

on

about

architecrure. What

if

space started looking ar mankind?

Will Junkspace invade rhe body? Through

the

vi bes

oí

che cell

phone?

Has

it

already? Botox injections?

Collagen? Silicone implants? Liposuction? Penis

enlargements? Docs gene therapy announce a toLal

reengineering according to junkspace? Is each

of

us

mini-construcúon site? Mankind the sum of3 to 5 billion

individualu pgrades?

Is

it

repertoire

of

econfiguration

th t facilita

tes

the intromission

of

new species imo l:.s

self-madcJunksphere?The cosmetic

is

the newcosmic

...

171

07 Koolhaas, Junkspace

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Transcript of 07 Koolhaas, Junkspace