Manifestos and manifestos. Beatriz Colomina in Madrid

She is from Madrid but with a New Yorker touch. Both her presence and her lecture expose her total awareness of the importance of images and words. From the cover to the contents, the original and renovated air founded in Beatriz Colomina’s books of the critical history of the twentieth century architecture captivates its readers. How needy was the architecture theory of a feminine vision. Beatriz chose this role, though architects tend to tip more towards construction and design than to theoretical skills. The latter sentence was part of the initial reflection by the moderator of the session review "Missing Manifests", Pedro Pablo Arroyo, who opened the round table organized by the European University in “Espacio Trapézio” at San Antón Market (Chueca), where it was concluded that, ultimately, a manifesto should not even look like a manifesto. This "could even occur on the kitchen table," said Beatriz Colomina who is clear about the role of domesticity not only in architectural production, but in aspects such as the mass media or the war. The revolution of the mass media has led the manifestos to various forms.

Beatriz Colomina in Madrid, Madrid, on 28/04/2013. Photography by Verónica Rosero/METALOCUS.

Are there too many manifestos? Are there still manifestos itself? If yes, who cares about them? That if nowadays there are no powerful manifestos. That if they are rather a kind of collage. That if there is not a will to transcend. That if there is a lack of commitment... There are more questions than answers. The debate however doesn’t judge the fragmentation of the current discourse. The manifestos that transcended in the twentieth century also possessed a fragmented discourse. But do we need to reach a consensual manifesto? It was the question of the introductory lecture. Before answering it is important to differentiate the content from the format as Nacho Martin said in the debate. Beatriz Colomina already anticipated it in the preface of the spanish edition of "Privacy and Publicity" when she mentions the blogs, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.. "Can we expect the architecture won’t be affected?” Definitely don’t. It is important not to separate the manifesto from the political and social reality. The lesson is clear in German or Russian idealisms, or in the Situationist International, commented Milla Hernández.

The stage of the round table had as its background a glass screen that let the audience perceive the market movement. Rather than distracting, it gave an air of ambiguity between inside and outside. The place was a perfect setting for a discussion without absolute truths. However, it has been agreed that manifesto or not manifesto, in its several forms, plurality, inclusiveness and interdisciplinarity are required. Perhaps it is not a coincidence the scenario of the meeting, the neighborhood in which it is located, or the many posters of naked footballers and fans along the room. Those who remember "Sexuality and Space" or the recent exhibition of "Playboy architecture 1953-1979" will tend to think that in fact it is not a coincidence.

We are living new paradigms, said Andrés Perea, such as sustainability: we cannot conceive a project without it. Then he made a cross-examination: "'how much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?' could be a manifesto itself? Or should rather be a manifesto 'how much have you left to your building ...?' ". The occidental connotation of these example reinforce the need not only of other formats, but also of other "dimensions" of thought, like the social, anthropological and philosophical ritual of the oriental cultures, as Arroyo and Perea talked.

The significance of the architects of the twentieth century was necessarily given by their manifestos; without them nor Mies, nor the Smithsons, nor Koolhaas (to include three generations), would represent the powerful influence on current creative processes, beyond its own architecture. The first reflection of the moderator is here outlined, demonstrating the importance of the establishment of a theoretical thought. What is the format? Among the references there could be the picturesque "Little magazines" featured on "Clip / Stamp / Fold" also by Colomina (and we look forward to her new publication on the manifestos of the twentieth century). However, the background of the written and built heritage of twentieth century architecture has to be a reference, but not a straitjacket or a prejudice. Let’s continue with the debate.

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Andrés Perea, Nacho Martín, Pedro Pablo Arroyo, Beatriz Colomina and Milla Hernández Pezzi. Madrid, on 28/04/2013. Photography by Verónica Rosero/METALOCUS.

San Antón market, Madrid, on 28/04/2013. Photography courtesy of Verónica Rosero/METALOCUS.

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Verónica Rosero

Verónica Rosero. (Quito - 1981) PhD in Architecture (Universidad de Alcalá, 2015) with the thesis "Demolition: the black hole of modernity", published by Editorial Diseño. Master in Architecture and City Projects (2009). International Doctorate Mention for research stays at the Delft University of Technology. Architect (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, 2006). She is currently an associate professor of Architectural Design and Final Degree Projects at the Universidad Central del Ecuador and Architectural Criticism at the Universidad de las Américas. External professor of the PhD in Architecture at the University of Alcalá. Central University Award 2019, indexed publications category, and BAQ XXIII Pan-American Award, printed books category. She has published in specialized magazines and given talks in Ecuador, Spain, France, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Mexico. Co-founder of I+D+A Architecture Studio with Néstor Llorca.

BEATRIZ COLOMINA

Beatriz Colomina is an internationally renowned architectural historian and theorist who has written extensively on questions of architecture and media. Ms. Colomina has taught in the School since 1988, and is the Founding Director of the Program in Media and Modernity at Princeton University, a graduate program that promotes the interdisciplinary study of forms of culture that came to prominence during the last century and looks at the interplay between culture and technology. In 2006-2007 she curated, with a group of Princeton Ph.D. students, the exhibition "Clip/Stamp/Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines 196X-197X" at the Storefront for Art and Architecture in New York and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montreal. The exhibition continues to travel around the world, in the Museum of Design of Barcelona and the Colegio de Arquitectos de Murcia, at the NAI Maastricht and Santiago de Chile and Montevideo. Over 100 reviews and articles on the exhibition have been published worldwide. An exhibition catalog is forthcoming from ACTAR.

Her books include Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1994), which was awarded the 1995 International Book Award by the American Institute of Architects, has already been translated into many languages and is coming out in Spanish and in Turkish. In addition, Ms. Colomina has published Sexuality and Space (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1992), which was awarded the 1993 International Book Award by the American Institute of Architects; and Architectureproduction (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1988). She has contributed to many volumes, including The Banham Lectures, Philip Johnson: The Constancy of Change, Beyond Transparency and catalogues of the work of Dan Graham, Muntadas and SANAA, among others. In addition she has published Cold War Hot Houses: Inventing Postwar Culture from Cockpit to Playboy, co-edited with AnnMarie Brennan and Jeannie Kim (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2004; Doble exposición: Arquitectura a través del arte (Double Exposure: Architecture through Art) (Madrid: Akal, 2006), and Domesticity at War (Barcelona: ACTAR and MIT Press, 2007). She was selected to be a Juror for the 2010 Venice Biennale and a juror in the architectural competition for the new headquarters of CAF (Corporación Andina de Fomento), in Caracas, Venezuela. She presented "Women in Architecture," a keynote lecture in the conference Female Forces, 100 year anniversary, at the Royal Academy Copenhagen. In addition to being the Editor of the Multimedia Section of the JSAH (Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians) she has written numerous other publications and presented lectures throughout the world, including at MoMA, the MAXXI museum in Rome, the Guggenheim museum, DoCoMoMo in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, Chandigarh, Osaka, Tokyo, Florence, Oslo, Thesaloniki, Patras, Guadalajara, Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne, Ohio, Pamplona, Porto, Toronto, Houston, Texas AM, Yale, Chicago and Harvard University.

Published on: May 1, 2013

Cite: "Manifestos and manifestos. Beatriz Colomina in Madrid" METALOCUS. Accessed

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