Editorial HITZE TAKES COMMAND

–273.15°C is the coldest there is. At this temperature, nothing moves anymore. It is “absolute zero”, 0 Kelvin. No mass particle vibrates anymore. When it gets warmer, when mass particles begin to move, when mass particles vibrate excessively, that is heat. As we can see, temperature not only measures warmth, it can also be a measure of movement.

Since the vibration velocity of mass particles can be infinitely high, heat can also become infinitely hot. There is no such thing as the hottest temperature. There is only the hottest temperature produced. It is man-made and was generated in 2010 in a particle accelerator of Brookhaven Laboratories in the United States by colliding gold ions. That temperature is 4,000,000,000 ° C (4 billion °C). 1 By way of comparison: that is 250,000 times hotter than the core of our Sun, which comes to 16,000,000°C (16 million °C). The heat in the Sun’s corona reaches 1,000,000°C (1 million °C), its filaments measure 10,000°C, and its surface curiously has an earthly 6,000°C, corresponding to the heat in our Earth’s core. Liquid iron still has a temperature of 1,540°C, 2 and the ignition temperature of paper – at least according to Ray Bradbury – is 233°C, or Fahrenheit 451. 3

Our immediate environment is considerably cooler. In the summer of 2017, the administrator of the Vienna Imperial Palace gave a tour of the new conference centre. The rooms were icy cold, all of 18°C. Apparently, that is the temperature agreeable to a well-dressed Central European man in a three-piece suit in any place or season and at any time of day. As we can see, temperatures are controlled not only to make life possible, but also to assert a selective, formalized and sometimes fossilized lifestyle. Producing cold and heat means a command of temperature, lifestyle and culture, and moreover, in this case, a gender-specific hegemony over a space that was a political and cultural instrument of power even before climate control.

As we can see, culture and temperature are also closely linked. Temperature can be a measure of culture. Heat and cold drive culture. In his “Cultural History of Climate” 4 , Wolfgang Behringer shows that cultures have their specific temperatures, and that any shift in temperature is a cultural shift. That was also the case at the beginning of the Holocene: “The transition from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Mesolithic economy happened relatively quickly; it was induced by climatic upheaval” 5 ... “Global warming meant an end to the previous human economic system” and “global warming is linked to a fundamental change in human culture…” 6 Now, we could let these sentences stand as they are, a concise commentary on the beginning of the geo

chronological epoch in which we live, the abovementioned Holocene. However, the phrasing chosen by Behringer for the early Holocene is suggestive. It sounds as if it was meant for the here-and-now, as if it was written for our time. Let us then take these sen- tences and write, from the perspective of the future, about the late Holocene. Not much needs to be changed. It would read like this:

“The end of the Anthropocene 7 economy embed- ded in the Holocene happened relatively quickly; it was induced by climatic upheaval. Global warming meant an end to the previous growth-based, capitalist human economic systems and a fundamental change in human culture.”

If we follow this suggestion, and if we know which changes induced and accompanied the Holocene, it becomes clear in which dimensions, categories and terrains architecture can now be imagined.

1 Ibid. 2 Information from Wikipedia, 2019-08-25 3 Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, New York 1953 4 Wolfgang Behringer, Kulturgeschichte des Klimas (A Cultural History of Climate), Munich 2011, 6th edition 2018 5 Ibid. p. 64, own translation. W. Behringer quotes Alfred Heuss and Golo Mann in Propyläen World History of the 1960s. 6 Ibid. p. 64f, own translation. 7 No formal determination has yet been made on whether we are still living in the Holocene or already in a new era, the Anthropocene. In any case, there is an overlap of characteristics between the two, hence the phrasing “Anthropocene econ- omy embedded in the Holocene”. 8 Municipality of Vienna, Vienna environ- mental protection department – Municipal Department 22 1 Ibid. 2 Information from Wikipedia, 2019-08-25 3 Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451, New York 1953 4 Wolfgang Behringer, Kulturgeschichte des Klimas (A Cultural History of Climate), Munich 2011, 6th edition 2018 5 Ibid. p. 64, own translation. W. Behringer quotes Alfred Heuss and Golo Mann in Propyläen World History of the 1960s. 6 Ibid. p. 64f, own translation. 7 No formal determination has yet been made on whether we are still living in the Holocene or already in a new era, the Anthropocene. In any case, there is an overlap of characteristics between the two, hence the phrasing “Anthropocene econ- omy embedded in the Holocene”. 8 Municipality of Vienna, Vienna environ- mental protection department – Municipal Department 22

HITZE TAKES COMMAND is the annual project 2019/2020 of the IKA, Institute for Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna.

HITZE TAKES COMMAND is an attempt to understand a phenomenon that was previously an exceptional situation and has since become the new normal, with unlimited potential for esca- lation.

HITZE TAKES COMMAND is a reaction to increasing climate shifts, the contours of which became visible in the past century and are now extremely critical.

HITZE TAKES COMMAND is a reaction to the publication “Urban Heat Islands – Strategy Plan Vienna” 8 . The IKA wants to juxtapose this strategy plan with projects from an architectural and artistic perspective, both in a supportive and a productively critical sense.

HITZE TAKES COMMAND and the curriculum: Are our curricula heat-appropriate? Is our education such that students and teachers develop the knowledge needed to deal with heat phenomena and climate change?

HITZE TAKES COMMAND is the result of an in-depth debate. Structurally, the title alludes to Sigfried Giedion’s book “Mech- anization Takes Command”. The title is ambiguous. On the one hand, it means that heat has taken the helm. On the other hand, it means that heat requires control.

The HITZE TAKES COMMAND project 2019/2020 is generously supported by IMMOBILIEN PRIVATSTIFTUNG. The HITZE TAKES COMMAND project 2019/2020 is generously supported by IMMOBILIEN PRIVATSTIFTUNG.