A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Maintenance Art, Architecture, and the Visibility of Time
No matter how well built, architecture is consumed in time. The only remedy against a building's degeneration is maintenance— fixing deterioration once it becomes visible. There are three human acts with physical consequences: to create, to destroy, and to maintain. Of these three, maintenance requires the greater vigilance, observational skill, and intimacy. Real buildings are unavoidably captive to time's transformations. Despite how hard architects try to reduce its effects, time refigures a building—whichover its lifetime alternates between periods of shabbiness to moments of shine. Between a building's opening day and its demolition is the period of maintenance. Maintenance is seldom discussed by architectural theoreticians; perhaps because maintenance has long been associated with drudgery, menial tedium, and the non-heroic efforts of janitors, maids, and groundskeepers. In 1973, conceptual feminist artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles famously recast maintenance into art by washing down the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut with her performance pieces,"Maintenance Art—Washing, Tracks, Maintenance: Inside/Outside." Subsequently, many artists have imitated her event in various settings and situations. Maintenance is the slow and careful adoration of the built. Architects can recognize instantly the shades of neglect in a place not properly maintained. Architectural educators would do well to include the implications of maintenance and maintenance art in their classes. This essay seeks to spark critical discourse on the role of maintenance and maintenance art in architecture. Caretaking and upkeep are recast as thoughtprovokingacts of cultural intervention. Using examples from design theory, art, and literature, this essay describes the art of maintenance envisioned in intimate acts of cleaning, repairing, and renewing.
Maintenance Art, Architecture, and the Visibility of Time
No matter how well built, architecture is consumed in time. The only remedy against a building's degeneration is maintenance— fixing deterioration once it becomes visible. There are three human acts with physical consequences: to create, to destroy, and to maintain. Of these three, maintenance requires the greater vigilance, observational skill, and intimacy. Real buildings are unavoidably captive to time's transformations. Despite how hard architects try to reduce its effects, time refigures a building—whichover its lifetime alternates between periods of shabbiness to moments of shine. Between a building's opening day and its demolition is the period of maintenance. Maintenance is seldom discussed by architectural theoreticians; perhaps because maintenance has long been associated with drudgery, menial tedium, and the non-heroic efforts of janitors, maids, and groundskeepers. In 1973, conceptual feminist artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles famously recast maintenance into art by washing down the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut with her performance pieces,"Maintenance Art—Washing, Tracks, Maintenance: Inside/Outside." Subsequently, many artists have imitated her event in various settings and situations. Maintenance is the slow and careful adoration of the built. Architects can recognize instantly the shades of neglect in a place not properly maintained. Architectural educators would do well to include the implications of maintenance and maintenance art in their classes. This essay seeks to spark critical discourse on the role of maintenance and maintenance art in architecture. Caretaking and upkeep are recast as thoughtprovokingacts of cultural intervention. Using examples from design theory, art, and literature, this essay describes the art of maintenance envisioned in intimate acts of cleaning, repairing, and renewing.
Maintenance Art, Architecture, and the Visibility of Time
Willoughby, William T (author)
2013-08-28
ARCC Conference Repository; 2013: The Visibility of Research | UNCC 2013
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
720
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