oh Thom...

Of course you can be in our comic, you say some great things:


"The huge problem in our society is the enormous ignorance of the ideas that underlie modern art. Whether you look at Picasso, the surrealists or Duchamp, somewhere along the line you’re going to encounter Marx, Freud or Einstein. In a certain sense they redefined our image of ourselves, because when we ask the question who we are as human beings, the answer always refers back to ideas. They form our brains and in doing so they form the world... We only exist in terms of how we think we exist. Meaning every cultural development is fabricated and can be fabricated. So at a time in which the media give the public everything it wants and desires, maybe art should adopt a much more aggressive attitude towards the public. I myself am very much inclined to take this position."


"Architecture is involved with the world, but at the same time it has a certain autonomy. This autonomy cannot be explained in terms of traditional logic because the most interesting parts of the work are non-verbal. They operate within the terms of the work, like any art."

‘The idea of the future is dead! Now we know that the world changes in totally unpredictable ways and that a single human act can make the future look entirely different. So it’s pointless to come up with ideas about the future. As an architect, do I need a vision of the world? Of course! But that vision doesn’t extend any further than tomorrow. Ask me if I’m optimistic and hopeful. I’ll say, Yes, definitely. It’s in my nature.’

‘Descriptions of my work depress me. They make me feel pinned down. For me the meaning of my work is much more fluid. My buildings don’t speak in words but by means of their own spaciousness. You might say that when you step inside, you’re entering a honorific space, but that’s something totally different than experiencing it. And in architecture the experience comes first. That has the deepest effect on us.

“Do I provoke as a method of investigation? Of course. That’s the essence of architecture. Do I do it with gusto? I do."


“I fought violently for the autonomy of architecture. It’s a very passive, weak profession where people deliver a service. You want a blue door, you get a blue door. You want it to look neo-Spanish, you get neo-Spanish.

“Architecture with any authenticity represents resistance. Resistance is a good thing.”

A LITTLE POST SCRIPT ON RESISTANCE:

http://lebbeuswoods.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/architecture-and-resistance/