While doing some spring cleaning I came across my bachelor project which was inspired by The Shakers. I remember now why I was so inspired by the philosophy of these people concerning things. I am very drawn to their sense of simplicity, craftsmanship and space.
The Shakers originate form a group of persecuted Protestants in France, who fled to England in 1706. In 1774 they emigrated to New York, where they bought land, and called it “The New world “. Here they lived together in villages where each “unit” was responsible for the production of goods for personal use and for trade with other Shaker villages and eventually also with “the world”. Ann Lee was a leading figure in the Shaker group. She was also known as Mother Ann, or just Mother. Equality, pacifism, absolution and common property were qualities valued high in the community. The Shakers were very concerned with harmony between the spiritual and the physical environment with which they surrounded themselves. Simplicity, cleanliness, order, industry and perfection were the means to achieve the goal. Mother Ann emphasized that all assets should be functional and modest, not trendy and grandiose. She believed that the extravagance of an object caused the heart to open up to pride, vanity and lust, and that it destroyed the natural material and the practical purpose of the object itself. ”Anything with an precisely defined purpose, can be described as perfect because it answers perfectly to the purpose it was designed for.” When they built their houses, they were careful to plan for storage. This led to integrated storage in the walls. The storage was pre planned to fit their specific needs. Often there could be 3 to 6 people in one bedroom, and this created the need for separate storage. The storage was mostly made of drawers. Since there were so many people living together, it was important that all things had their permanent place, so that they would be easy to find for all residents. They had a great production of oval and round boxes for different things, which were color coded for content. They also made cleaning easier, by mounting pegs high on the wall in every room, where everything from chairs to hats and coats were hung. The beds had wheels, so they would be easy to move.
According to Wikipedia there is only one Shaker group left living in the United States with three living members. The disappearance of the Shakers is caused by living in celibacy and building their community partly through adoption of orphans, which turned illegal in the 1960s.
Filed under: Architecture, Science and Technology Studies | Tags: Architecture, Oslo, Science & Technology Studies
Harry Collins and Robert Evans have in their book “Rethinking Expertise” (2007) made an attempt to categorise differend types of knowledge. The periodic table of expertise that they have created is based on the idea of tacit knowledge, and names and places the different kinds of expertise. The term `tacit knowledge’ was used my Michael Polanyi to refer to those things we can do without being able to explain how. Individuals acquire expertise through being members of expert groups. It takes much time and effort to socialize into these groups. A large part of the knowledge acquired can not be explained formally. It is knowledge that is embedded in language and society. Tacit knowledge is an important part of all kind of expertises. Collins and Evans argue for a realist theory of expertise independent of the social attribution of expertise. They are critisizing the STS approach of describing the social attribution of knowledge without taking a stand (the importance of symmetry in STS). One should be able to assess who has knowledge and who not. They call it “The third way”. Still they acknowledge that the boundaries of knowledge can be difficult to draw in a strict way in real life. It is a first attempt to categorize different kinds of knowledge. A broad definition of expertise could be “to know what you are talking about”, there is no difference between knowledge and expertise. Expertise is in culture and in practice, and is found more in practice than in books. It is about doing, performing and talking. (H. Collins, R. Evans, 2007)
Interactional Expertise is fluency in the technical language associated with a specialism. The ability to expertly converse about expertise without being able to practice it. It is learned through linguistic socialisation and achieved by spending enough time with practitioners. Interactional expertise is an expertise between informal and formal knowledge – between books and practice.
To have Contributory Expertise is to know enough to contribute to the development of a specific expertise. A deep understanding. It is the “real” knowledge, the practice. (H. Collins, R. Evans, 2007)
(MH, 2010)
Could it be argued that in the design of the open international competition for architects for a design of the Norwegian Opera House (1999), there was imbedded a demand for an expertise which was suited to produce a Nordic if not even a Norwegian winner?
All of the architects participating in the competition posessed approximately the same contributory expertise as the competition only was open to architects with an approved examination under the EU’s architect directive. This means that Norwegian participants had to be civil architects or members of NAL. Foreign participants inside the EEA area had to document that they have qualifications equivalent to the European Union’s Directive. Other foreign participants had to document equivalent qualifications. However, the tacit knowledge achieved through the embedment in the Nordic/Norwegian culture of strong social democratic values, as well as interactional expertise towards the involved actors put Snøhetta in a special position probably along with the other Norwegian contributors to the competition.
It could seem that the international approach towards the competition was to a large extent encouraged and forced by the EEA Agreement and NAL. The strong focus on the Norwegian language in the jury and also the missing internationality of the jury members, gives Snøhetta and other Norwegian/Nordic architects the advantage of tacit knowledge within the Nordic culture. It gives them an expertise which communicates with the expertise of the jury members. Snøhetta and the other Norwegian contributors were in addition closely connected to NAL through the membership of employed architects. Snøhetta posessed additional interactional expertise achieved through the collaboration with Statsbygg on the exposition “Ny opera i Bjørvika”.
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Photo, Travel | Tags: Architecture, Art, Gerhard Richter, Munich, Photo
I went on a little trip to Munich this weekend visiting a friend. I think Munich is a very nice example of the German sense of perfection, neatness and cleanliness. Everything seems so organized and well tended. The people as well, not a wrinkle in their shirt. There is a lot of cool perfection and a quite conservative “stiffness” combined by the contrasting warm welcoming Bavarian atmosphere. In about two weeks the fun begins with the annual Oktoberfest! I was there for it in 2005 with my friend Heidi. After getting a couple of Dirndl (Traditional dresses), we were partying just like the local girls. Such great fun. Well, none of that this year. Good fun still; walking around the city, going to a little party and…
…on Saturday I went to Pinakothek der Moderne (Contemporary art museum). The architecture of the museum appeals to me. It is quite industrial, with sleek lines contrasted by curves inside. The collection holds some art by german painters from the 19th century up to the present, pieces by Andy Warhol, just now an architectural exhibit by Jabornegg & Pállfy, lighting installation by Dan Flavin, New York, and I discovered a painting that I didn´t know, by my faourite artist Gerhard Richter as well.
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Photo, Travel | Tags: Architecture, Art, France, Musée d´Orsay, Paris, Photo
The Musée d´Orsay is also an obligatory visit when in Paris. A great collection of mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1915, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography. The museum holds an extensive collection of impressionist masterpieces by painters such as Monet, Degas, Renoir, and Cezanne. The building is a former train station, and is amazingly beautiful. I would recommend not doing the Louvre and Musée d´Orsay on the same day as I did. Unfortunately the last hour of the visit was with out taking anything in. I guess there is a limit to the amount of input in one day, but I did enjoy it a lot. Especially the light and airy paintings by Monet.
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Photo, Travel | Tags: Architecture, Art, Centre Pompidou, France, Paris, Photo
On the first day in Paris we went to the Centre Georges Pompidou which accommodates the leading collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe. It also holds a large public reference library, performance spaces and cinemas as well as an institute for musical research and creation. The architecture of the place is quite interesting with most of the technical installations out in the open marked with different colors. It stands out though quite harshly in comparison to the surrounding historic architecture. In front of the building is a big square which is eagerly used by people sitting on the ground reading, talking, playing music and so on. From the upper floors you can observe the activity on the ground from a birds perspective. Here are some photos from the collection and the museum, and a few artworks by two of my favorite artists Mark Rothko and Gerhard Richter, that I got on post cards.
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Photo, Travel | Tags: Architecture, Art, France, Louvre, Paris, Photo
Early in the morning on wednesday 22.7, I went by metro to the station of Palais Royal Musée du Louvre. It was a tip in the Lonely Planet France to go to the museum trough the metro station to avoid the line at the main entrance by the pyramid. There was a bit of a line for tickets at the counter though there as well, but it went pretty fast, and I could by tickets for the Musée d´Orsay at the same time.
Musée du Louvre is the national museum of France and is housed in the Palais du Louvre. It is an enormous museum where 35,000 objects from the 6th century BC to the 19th century are exhibited. The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; and Prints and Drawings.
It has been said that it would take nine months (!) to have look at every piece of art in the collection, so you just have to choose some part of the museum, and leave the rest for another visit. I decided to go for the Mona Lisa first, and went to the Denon wing on the 1st floor. On my way to the most famous painting in the world, I passed all the french and italian paintings from the 13th – 15th century. I must say the sight of these masterpieces hanging on the walls of this amazing palace is quite impressing. All though I was at the museum when it opened, the place was already packed with people. When I arrived at the Mona Lisa, there was a big crowd in front of it taking pictures. Pictures of Mona Lisa, of themselves with Mona Lisa, of their mother,sister, girlfriend with the Mona Lisa… puh… What a fuzz there is over this painting. It is quite small, and to be looked at from a bit of a distance since there is a rope holding you back. I think it is hard to point out the superior greatness of this painting to the others of the same time. I had a few other favourites.
From there I went on to the Napoleon III apartments in the Richilieu wing. The rooms are an explosion of gold, crystal and velvet. The Louvre was still being added to by Napoleon III. The new wing of 1852-1857, represents the Second Empire‘s version of Neo-baroque. Oh I wish I could close my eyes and when I´d open them I would see how people were moving around in these incredibly pompous surroundings. I am thinking the same thing walking around in the streets of Paris. The beauty of the architecture inevitably diminishes somewhat in combination with the signs, traffic and trash of the modern times.
