Manifesto III

Damnatio Memoraie

Today we live in a culture of consumption. The deformation, breakdown and eventual destruction of our surroundings are constant. The precious and the disposable are interchangeable. We recognize value in the over stimulation often associated with wealth - a nostalgic and eclectic collection of history and memory – a modern manifestation of the ancient act of Iconoclasm exercised on a daily basis in our endless search for new order.

 “The act of iconoclasm – while apparently a kind of visual defacement that effaces the memory of the destroyed- may none the less preserve the memory of the condemned in the very act of obliteration."

Ruthlessly defacing or dismantling our icons to secure the iconic status of their successor we place the damned in the category of memory where they are further elevated towards the iconic, the unforgettable.

Damnatio Memoraie, the act of forgetting with intent, of censorship, damnation and perpetual punishment through deformation is the means to eternal preservation in memory - the holey grail of cultural veneration.

Having no meaning of it own the new container alters our perception by preserving and destroying. It absorbs and incubates change deforming with both history and memory.

In the ultimate act of ‘architectural cannibalization’ the container consumes past memory in order safeguards its future history.  It restricts architectural reincarnation through the preservation of the venerated within its slabs.  Fat with the auras of generations of buildings it contains their historic memory while providing a platform for the development of new order. Representing both absence and presence it oscillates between containers and contained.