The Concrete Circus

THE THE

CONCRETE

CIRCUS

AS

THE

GHOST

‘Burn it every fifty years...’ Antonio Sant’ Elia

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Competition Context Rupture, when considered an ‘acting’ force of change to something constant, an interruption occurs. When the rupted first appears as such, the ‘changed’ establishes its complete origin and end. Thus, the ‘pre-rupted’ has the same knowledge/meaning/importance to that what is (or will be) changed. If we reverse the spati al relation between the ‘changed’ and the ‘pre-rupted’ , the linearity of the action becoming thought is interrupted via metonymy by intermitted spaces in Time. This metonymy is what alerts change of its changing whilst remaining pure to the origin and end at all moments of rupting. In other words, if we ‘freeze frame’ a change through (and acting in) Time, what we comprehend is space in relation to what is and what will be. The metonymized object.

OF

CIRCUS ITS

STRUCTURE

HONORABLE MENTION Live architectural competition, Canada 2007 ACADEMIC Communication and Space NTUA course, 2008 ARCHITEKTONES magazine POSTER

its intricate ontology with a construct, so as to metonymize its meaning even further. To help us denote its diachronous function, the circus can be ontologically defined as an intense field of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic entities; the elephant stands on two legs and humans walk on four.

Originated in the ancient world, the Circus has a history of a ritualistic performance -mostly of a nomadic nature- and functioned as a proto-

he circus is a thing that strongly resists

T

theatre where the distance between human and

definition. Since the very depths of its

animal nature was under examination. Since

etymological roots, it has been a signifier for an

the performances were held in the open, its

abstract animate vitality, later to incorporate

architectural typology remained open-ended and

“frenetic public activity” under its umbrellic

it was only for this circular space, suitable for the

term. In the following text I will try to link

interweaving movements of man and animal to give the birthmark of its etymological

The circus per place and time. Hand-drawing and collage

significance. The roman kirkos (from greek

a ubiquitous invisible force immanent to nature

κίρκος, κύκλος= circle, arena) retained the

itself. These cultures started using masks and

very basic organization of the performance,

other paraphernalia of camouflage to disguise

surrounded by a crowd, until the time that circus

the human form and came up with rituals and

intoxicated the nineteenth century american

initiation tests to mingle and re-establish the

public as a theatrical laboratory for the exotic,

bounds with nature’s laws, expressed in the form

the whimsical and the monstrous, unconsciously

of ‘spirits’. These beliefs cultivated a range of

continuing the ever-occurring theme of men,

metamorphoses, where dancing and mimicry

animals and the combination of those two on the

provided ways of becoming an animal.

stage, fighting against each other for their lives

Once one with nature, the circus, just like with

or collaborating in an interspecific choreography.

the history of ancient greek theatre, needed

This (factory of travesties) awkward show topped

no structures, since its unification with nature

by a tensed (taut) fabric has been located in

didn’t necessitate architecture as a landmark; no

the fridge of architectural typology since the

stronghold, no threshold whatsoever. Later on,

nomadic lifestyle of the performers and the

newly conceived dualities gave rise to apparent

circus, have not being accepted as a valid form

architectures, and consequently to (frontiers)

of entertainment so as to be included in the

divisions between nature and civilization, man

spectrum of the urban architecture, it took the

and animal. Walls, hedges, embankments, prisons

form of a caravan on wheels traveling from town

carefully started to crystallize an interiority. That

to town to feed the curiosity of the agitated public

what stays in and that what is left out. The

and learn from its peculiar taste.

From excavating relics, a transient stage of civilization was manifested in fables, epics and other primordial records of an allegedly collective unconscious, a time often described as “Distant Time” or “Dream Time” where, according to several animistic religious beliefs, animals were able to take human form. According to folklorists such as Charles L. Edwards, these ideas were evolved out of a memory of a previous evolutionary stage of the human species: ‘nonverbal fables’ of apes passing on to humans.

Such a residue of our anthropological past can be also linked to Indian spirits and proto-gods of greek antiquity such as Dionysos, where the divine (closely related with) and inherent to the physical world and its phenomena refused to take an anthropomorphic form and remained

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rest remained in the fringe of non-materiality.

modern culture capturing our imagination

A specter hovering above and across, refusing

and nurturing our childhood, included in the

to take a form. Hidden in the woods. A place

machinic circus of Disneyland.

where mythic assemblages of human and animal

* * * * *

proliferated. And while these combinations once

The attempt to design a Concrete Circus only to

constituted a way to praise nature, in the middle

be demolished after the end of the performance

ages they represented an incarnation of the

-except from forming a paradox- introduces an

demonic.

architecture that uses building and demolition as parts of the same show. In such a way, the

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The circus has been served as a factory of

ephemeral erection, its packing into the trailers

monsters. The ‘elephant man’ was one of them.

and its perpetual state of traveling are being

The traveling circus fueled people’s unconscious

substituted by building materials and detonation

and haunted their dreams. The circus in Carlo

mechanisms. The once dispersed spaces now

Collodi’s famous classic novel The adventures of

form a saturated structure. The demolition of the

Pinocchio acted as a prison for the little boy’s

circus’ monolith would be the culmination of the

soul, much like the soul in Boudist beliefs is

show. The best directors, the most well-trained

trapped into different animal vessels on its way to

acrobats and capable magicians would be invited

nirvana. A ‘circus’ was enclosed into the Egyptian

to

pyramid, and a circus was manifested in the technique of a chinese monk mimicking the animal with his martial art. Overall the circus can be described as a theatre of reciprocal corporealities and a factory of organic assemblages. And these exact properties of this wondrous cultural artifact have been inherited to our

THE PROPOSED CIRCUS MONOLITH

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SECTION OF THE BUILDING BEING DEMOLISHED

participate in this extraordinary event. In

the erosion of the term ‘circus’ -the rupture

such ways architecture could be used as the

that commences its metonymy- coincides with

paraphernalia of illusion, mischievous hoaxes

the demolition of the actual building. The

and the grotesque. Thus, the metonymy of an

continuous shift between a permanent built form

object is being studied through the process of the

and the circus as a fluid force of change tries to

construction of a Circus -signaling its arrival- and

imitate the arbitrariness of its nomadic past. It’s

its demolition -preceding its exodus. The abstract

recurring demolition acts as a continuous force

function of the circus is being metonymized

of change, keeping it outside the architectural

into continuous reincarnations of the Idea of

typological establishment. The word circus

the circus per place and time. An architectural

originally describes a traveling company of

experiment is being conducted based on the

performers, and later on signifies a frenetic

intricate past that gave substance to the circus

pandemonium; the absence of order particularly.

in the first place. The eventful phenomenon of

A further metonymy takes place where an

the circus prevails over its fluid programmatic

antique signifier concerning a rounded arena also,

processes: Elephants imported, guest magicians

paradoxically enough, stands for a concrete

added, new technologies invented, new urban

rectangular monolith.

contexts explored: new symbols, new structural

We shall conclude with an addition to the

materials, new posters and circus trademarks

dictionary:

provided.-

circus

Once a circus of that kind gains substance,

noun ( pl. -cuses ) 1 a traveling company of acrobats, trained animals, and clowns that gives performances, typically in a large tent, in a series of different places : [as adj. ] a circus elephant.

• (in ancient Rome) a rounded or oblong arena lined with tiers of seats, used for equestrian and other sports and games.

• informal a group of people involved in a particular sport who travel around to compete against one another in a series of different places : the Formula One circus.

• informal a public scene of frenetic and noisily intrusive activity : a media circus.

2 [in place names ] Brit. a rounded open space in a city where several streets converge : Piccadilly Circus.

3 informal Intricate construct only to be demolished after it serves its purpose in an extravagant and flamboyant way : It burned down just like a circus.

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Michail Vlasopoulos was born in Loutraki, Greece in 1984. He earned his masters in Architecture-Engineering in 2009, from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, with a grade of 9,03/10,00 (honors). In his undergraduate years he had the opportunity to participate in various competitions in graphic design, graphic novels, architecture and urbanism. He is the GRAND prize winner of the 26th international Space Prize competition, juried by Ryue Nishizawa; his team in Do.co. mo.mo workshop NL 2008 was placed 2nd , and he received an honorable mention, being in the top six participants, in the ‘Live’ Architectural Competition in Calgary, Canada 2007, with Lebbeus Woods as a jury member. He currently works as a member and editor in the ARCHITEKTONES Journal of the Association of Greek Architects, while looking for an opportunity to pursue an academic carreer abroad.

http://spacecollective.org/mikaBoo http://concretecircus.blogspot.com http://archivalcircus.blogspot.com http://issuu.com/mikaboo 7 NYMFAIOU, ILISIA 11528 ATHENS GREECE +30 6974635735 m.vlasopoulos@gmail.com