November 2011 Archives
The Room
the room under control
Being surrounded by the propaganda, since we didn't manage to escape before being enclosed by the propaganda wall are trapped inside. The wall is so tall, we can hardly see its top, we can hear voices coming out from the wall, and it is constantly changing. The giant images and messages on the wall makes our eyes dizzy, but there is no escape from seeing them, they are everywhere, we feel like we are being watched.
The constant growing of the propaganda wall means that there will eventually be no space for us. To find a way out, we must start digging into the wall to the other side of the world where there will be freedom.
Actions taken place in different part of the wall. When we manage to dig through to the other side of the wall, the other people from the other side of the wall were trying doing the same thing!
Those like us who would not give up keep trying to dig through the wall at different place, there must be a way out!
Finally! We see concrete beneath the propaganda posters! It is a concrete frame. There is space for us, the concrete frame hollow out a chunk of the propaganda wall, all the way up to the top.
the room that is in control
Occupying the facade of Case del Fascio, we realised that there will never be enough space for all the people in the room, we have to keep this space out of other people's reach, remain it as a secret room. As days go by, we started to occupy the upper floors, making ladders to reach the higher levels.
Some how we started to dig into the wall again, branching out from one of the balcony openings of the facade, we built a walkway leading up to an opening toward 'the room', where we used to be before we found this secret room. We made sure we would dig out such an angle that people can't see the opening from the ground.
Up there, we can produce our very own propaganda, promote our ideas to people in the room. due to the height, our voice now can be heard, our propaganda can be seen.
type 1) room surrounded by the propaganda wall
suffocating
being controlled
being watched
type 2) room within the propaganda wall
escaped from being watched
a part of the wall / uniform
but not being controlled by it
*the wall is also the 'uniform' which place a heavy influence on what it is surrounded.
the idea of the uniform is that:
a) it is part of a larger organisation
b) the appearance being more important than the substance
the collective of rooms. the repeated room form by the propaganda wall also shows the concept of the wall being the uniform.
It shows more clearly the rooms within the wall.
- it is only when the propaganda wall is thick enough that rooms can be formed within it.
- the thicker the wall is, the bigger the rooms can be
Critiques:
-concept of overlaying posters might be too straight forward
-to incorporate with other part of Casa del Fascio
Plan / Respond:
At the moment the statement is that propaganda overlaid and created a boundary that feels physical to the people who are indoctrinated while there is no such physical barrier.
I enjoy the idea of this statement being a partial fantasy. Now I'm imagining that as the propaganda wall build up in time, it created a series of frozen time frames, and we go into the frame when the wall is twice as thick as Casa del Fascio (could be other frame) and try digging into the wall. Part of the structure of Casa del Fascio would be revealed in the process, but it might appear as a different form due to the fact that it had been buried for a period of time. I hope to create a conversation between the new form structure (formed by partial removal of the propaganda wall) and the revealed old structure of Terragni's.
I'm also asking myself why I started digging into the wall? maybe I want to uncover the past propaganda and its effect on people? What type of space would be created?
Since the posters are overlaid in one direction, so I imagine if I carve out a space in the centre of the wall, in the NS direction I'll get complete smooth, opaque wall; while in the EW direction I'll get rays of light coming through the gaps between the layered posters.
I guess this is to occupy the propaganda wall rather than seeing it only as a barrier/boundary. But I'm not sure why I want to occupy the space yet apart from that I'm intrigued about what such a space, which essentially is layers of history of control, is like.
Also the fact that Casa del Fascio is buried and now will be partially uncovered, I hope to draw more reference to it and bring the form of Casa del Fascio into part of my argument.
