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