Revisionary Tactics:
Renovating the Museum Store at the Smithsonian
Ross Hoekstra
bas-relief GERBERA vase $
107
Master of Architecture Thesis 2009 Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning University of Michigan
Revisionary Tactics:
Renovating the Museum Store at the Smithsonian
Ross Hoekstra
Submitted June 12, 2009 Craig Borum, Faculty Advisor Keith Mitnick, Thesis Committee Perry Kulper, Thesis Committee Amy Kulper, Thesis Committee
Revisionary Tactics:
Renovating the Museum Store at the Smithsonian
Deinstitutionalization 1 : the release of institutionalized individuals from institutional care to care in the community 2 : the reform or modification of an institution to remove or disguise its institutional character
“Thus, whenever the monumental vision of the past rules over the other ways of looking at the past…the past itself suffers damage...” Friedrich Nietzsche The last bastion of architectural practice is the institution. My personal studio education includes a bathhouse, a fine arts library, a natatorium, a multi-family housing project, and a housing colony. Architectural competitions abound for museums, libraries, schools, and housing complexes. Mark Wigley has written that the pathology of the architect is to “provide images of order in a threateningly disorderly world.” The institution provides a convenient excuse for the architect to pursue order because the institution comes with a specific typological expectation of permanence, authority, and clarity of function. (When I use the word typological, I am using it in a more general sense than it is generally used in architectural
discourse, the way it is used outside architectural discourse. I simply use it to explain traits held in common by institutions) The benefit of these institutional traits is that they provide cultural meaning and identity. Unfortunately, because of these same traits, institutions marginalize those very populations for which it is trying to provide meaning. Krzysztof Wodiczko refer to institutions as part of the “official city,” in charge of telling “the history of the victors.” This thesis repositions the role of the institution, subverting the typological expectancy of institutions, arguing for institutions that question their own legitimacy, terms of authority, or modes of operation. Simply put, I am interested in institutions that seek to deinstitutionalize themselves. It is important to note that this thesis is not a rejection of institutions wholesale because of their positive and necessary role within a culture; it aims to revise the institution.
This legacy of functionalism has remained latent in the discipline of architecture, especially with respect to the architecture of museums, monuments, libraries, archives, and memorials. For example, the plan for the Toledo Glass Pavilion was derived by simply ordering the functional needs of the pavilion and rendering each separate function as its own room enclosed with glass walls. In the design for the Seattle Public Library, Rem Koolhaas and OMA criticized the old 20th century program of the library, but still asserted a different set of programs, remaining loyal to the functionalist agenda. In the end, space is merely the result of functional requirements.
Currently, institutions are refuges of order, representing a marginalizing and non-existent order. Jane Rendell writes that, “Architectural form is today no longer seen as a result of functional requirements, but rather as the trigger to new programmes and occupations of space. The desire is not for an architecture that communicates one meaning directly, but rather for material and spatial forms that produce multiple associations and ambiguous situations.”
The Legacy of Functionalism Because of this attachment to order, the institution continues to cling to functional requirements as the primary generator of for design. During the twentieth century, “Form follows function” and “a house is a machine for living in” have provided a deterministic design method; a factory was designed to manufacture efficiently, and a grain elevator was designed to store and distribute grain efficiently. Space and form were designed to promote an exact function/program.
Toledo Glass Pavilion SANAA, 2006.
Seattle Public Library, OMA, 2004.
Instead of space being subservient to programmatic requirements, space and program shall be liberated from their codependent relationship. Jane Rendell argues, “If we consider this expanded version of the term function in relation to architecture, we realize that architecture is seldom given the opportunity to have no function or to consider the construction of critical concepts as its most important purpose.”
translationreinterpreting existing content to produce new readings appropriationisolating elements for alternative reuse distractioninsertion of a foreign element to take attention away from the institution This index provides an exhaustive list deinstitutionalization tactics. Not all are required to destabilize an institution; targets must be chosen wisely.
Outlining the Tactics
Case Study: The Harburg Monument Against War & Fascism
Deinstitutionalization is the preferred means of destabilizing institutional expectancy. Paramount to this strategy is the recognition that existing institutions do not need to be destroyed, because they provide critical cultural meaning and value. Rather, memorial institutions shall be destabilized, revising their status from authoritative broadcaster of unilateral meaning to an ambiguous diffuser of contested meaning. Deinstitutionalization can take numerous revisionist forms. The following index outlines the various deinstitutionalizing tactics:
An illustrative example of destabilized institutions is evident in the work of artists working in Germany in the 1980s and 1990s, specifically Jochen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz. The Gerz’s (and others) had difficult questions to answer in regard to Germany’s Nazi past. James Young writes:
oversaturationexcessive exaggeration to overpower underminingweakening by the targeted removal of structural members disruptionseparation of a singular entity via insertion of a foreign object excavationremoval of existing layers to expose hidden material fictionalizationinvention of a new narrative to introduce dissonance confusionsuspension of clarity destructionerasure falsificationforging false information to reinforce/counter existing evidence counteringinsertion of various opposing pieces of information
Under what memorial aegis, whose rules, does a nation remember its barbarity? Where is the tradition for memorial mea culpa, when combined remembrance and self-indictment seem so hopelessly at odds?” The response to these questions, for German artists, was to create countermonuments, memorials which were self-conscious and questioned the reasoning behind their own existence. Instead of assuming a moralizing tone, they were ambiguous, ephemeral, and sometimes even invisible. For the Harburg Monument Against War & Fascism, the Gerz’s designed a lead plated column onto which visitors would inscribe their own name. In addition to memorial visitors inscribing themselves onto the column, neo-Nazi and other right-wing groups took it upon themselves to deface the column, much to the dismay of Harburg’s residents. The column was then slowly lowered into the ground over the course of several weeks until it was flush with the ground plane. This lowering served two functions: first of all, it allowed people to write on the entire length of
the column. Secondly, it was emblematic of Germany’s institutional desire memorialize the Holocaust in order to immediately forget it and banish the horrific events from their official history. Thus, the monument actually undermined the institutional typological expectancy of monuments: it lacked authority, it was not clear or precise, and it was not permanent.
Locating the Tactics: The Smithsonian Institute Mark Jarzombek writes in Dresden/’Dresden’ about institutions and the memory that they present. He argues,
“The recovery of ‘memory” is only possible if one acknowledges the traumatized, and traumatizing, temporal dislocations of the urban narrative. It is a narrative in which even non accidental omissions are regulated by history-producing visions that can be brought to light and challenged only by scholarship that looks behind the dynamics of the representational strategies out of which the urban consciousness is constructed. This brings us back to the question of memory and public space, for public space is the primary medium through which memory and its associated historiographical energy seeks its representation, and thus it is in the public space that the retrieval process works.” The target is the Smithsonian Institute. This institution holds itself responsible for the official history of the United States, constituting, by itself, the institutional memory of the citizens of the United States. This institution must be deinstitutionalized in order to release its unilateral agency to its constituents. The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum complex and research organization, encompassing 19 museums, 9 research centers, archives, a magazine, an observatory, and a National Zoo. The memory creating centers are the focus of this intervention. The original mission statement of the Institution was crafted by Robert Smithson:
“I then bequeath the whole of my property...to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an Establishment for the increase & diffusion of knowledge...”
The Harburg Monument Against War & Fascism, Jochen Gerz and Esther Shalev-Gerz, 1986.
My intervention will symbolically amend the mission statement to the increase and diffusion of contested knowledge. The Smithsonian Institute shall be deinstitutionalized by subverting its claims to authority, clarity, permanence.
The Project: Renovating the Museum Store at the Smithsonian Museum of American History Thus, the project is a renovation and expansion of the museum store at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. The museum store currently defers to the authority of the museum, politely observing, careful to not be confused with the institution and its artifacts. The store is tolerated as long as it remains within the clearly delineated boundaries set for it. The museum recognizes the obscene and contradictory nature of the store and its objects and attempts to suppress it. What is interesting about the Smithsonian Institution is that, in addition to having a museum store, it publishes a lengthy catalog of items one can buy that are similar to objects one views in the museum. The Smithsonian Catalog is actively using American history as advertising for the objects being sold in the catalog. The museum is stealthily acting as a showroom for the items in the catalog; history is instrumentalized to sell merchandise. This project will render this relationship visible, amplifying it to deinstitutionalize the museum. The proposed store thus becomes a showroom for the Smithsonian catalogue. The store shall be allowed to implicate the museum, laying bare the futile act of framing a singular narrative around an arbitrary series of unrelated objects. The store is set up as a one-way linear space, guaranteeing that the shopper sees every possible object for sale.
Find your way in the
Find your way in the
SMITHSONIAN STORE
SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY
clothing
toys & collectibles
gettysburg address
jewelry
books & clearance
within these walls
lighting a revolution
gifts accessories
observation
inaugural shop
home office & furnishings new arrivals
american presidency
gunboat philadelphia
america on the move
decorative
the price of freedom
science in power machinery american life
star spangled banner
picturing words
musical thanks for instruments the memories first ladies at the smithsonian communities invention at in a changing play nation
M HOURS:
y 10:00 - 5:30
HOME OFFICE & FURNISHINGS
TOYS & COLLECTIBLES dolls planes, trains, & automobiles science kits
E HOURS
furniture desk accessories tabletops clocks chests
day, 365 days a year
CLOTHING
DECORATIVE
dresses sleepwear sweaters
vases sculpture glass figurines wreaths & floral
JEWELRY pendants necklaces
ACCESSORIES ties scarves & shawls
first floor
REMEMBER:
second floor
This map may only be used as a rough guide. The next exhibit may be behind, above or below. Retracing steps is essential for successfully navigating the museum. Exploring and disregarding the map is encouraged.
third floor
Every item offered in the store will arrive accompanied by a Smithsonian provenance card giving significant information on the item and how it relates to our collections. In addition, please remember that your purchases support the educational and curatorial mission of the Smithsonian Institution.
BUTTERF
WISH LIST
A bevy of but light-filled ga glass caboch richly hued a patterned wi chain socket On/off switch $365.00
J A
I
K
J
I B
D
E
C J
F 1� = 32’
I
H
I
G
A
new arrivals
B
home office & furnishings
C
inaugural shop
D
observation
E
clothing
F
jewelry
G
toys and collectibles
H
accessories
I
books & clearance
J
gifts
K
decorative
Museum Store Directory
3.5 Floor
This linear space winds its way through the museum, grabbing any territory that has been left under utilized by the museum. It bypasses exhibitions, cuts through exhibitions, and even provides better viewing of certain exhibitions. This disorients the visitor/shopper, motivating their continuous pace forward. The result of this configuration is two-fold. First, it introduces a more nuanced view of the memory presented by the museum, full of starts, stops, shortcuts, and discontinuities. The collection of the museum is presented in jump cut format, as a continuous series of objects, when it is advantageous for selling merchandise. The museum is reconfigured by the store. It rejects the neat and tight institutional narratives presented by the museum. Secondly, the museum visitor who avoids entering the store must contend with figure of the store, often having to retrace steps to see all the exhibitions, being forced to go up and across and down in order to get to an exhibit on the same floor. The store creates an awareness of navigating, activating something that had been passive.
Third Floor
War, Politics, Entertainment & Music
2.5 Floor
Second Floor
1.5 Floor
In the current museum configuration, all exhibitions act as hermetic destinations, where one can experience each one individually; the store forces them to be looped together, exposing the arbitrary nature of their grouping and display. The store departs from the sectional logic of the museum, preferring to find its way between floors, often at a very gradual grade, further disorienting the visitor/shopper as to where they actually might be located within the museum. Access to sunlight, introduced for the purposes of increasing sales, penetrates through the museum, introducing an element that the museum has desperately tried to shield from.
Ground Floor Science, Invention, Transportation & Technology 1� = 32’
Perspective Section Just as the store implicates the museum, the museum shall, in turn, implicate the store, exposing how it has borrowed institutional modes of display. In order to keep the visitor/shopper moving, the store borrows the logic of the individual exhibition spaces, which keeps them from turning a corner. One is always led through an exhibition by the fact that no end is in sight; there is always something just around the bend. The store uses this mode of display to keep the visitor/shopper engaged and moving forward, while still keeping them disoriented as to their precise location.
The store itself engages with the museum in a spectrum. There are moments where the museum subjects the store to its authority. The boundary is almost non-existent. Museum objects are in the store but behind glass. The space is dark and
muted. Objects are displayed singularly. The objects for sale are also displayed singularly, however, the museum visitor sees two. There is the famous object, and the one that someone can buy. The same object is behind glass, but also can be touched, purchased, and carried off as a commodity.
There are moments where the store is hermetic, sealed and impervious to the museum. It sits between floors, has no view of the museum, is bright, reflective, and fully saturated. This
section for gifts depends on the logic of many all displayed at once. There are so many that one might as well buy one, pens, postcards, etc.
Finally, there are moments where it is unclear whether one might be in the store or in the museum. In one place, the paths of the two explicitly cross. The chuck wagon (an artifact) is displayed alongside the Tiffany lamp reproduction. The Jefferson writing desk holds the same weight as a decorative desk.
High value delicate items such as Faberge eggs which one can touch are displayed, although one is unsure whether they are truly for sale. One might mistakenly step into the chuck wagon for a photo. This part of the store shares similar materials as the museum, and occupies the same floor plane.
In the end, the artifacts become souvenir-like and the souvenirs become artifact-like. The visitor/shopper experiences the negotiation of the institution, understanding it as contested, restless, accumulative, ephemeral, and dialogical.
Postscript
Discussion at the review centered on whether the institution was truly still the last bastion of architectural practice, or if the institution had been supplanted by commercial architecture. Academic firms, like Office dA, have increasingly focused their practice on commercial ventures like restaurants and hair salons. It was asserted that the inverse of this thesis might be a more interesting proposition. Instead of deinstitutionalizing the institution, it was suggested that one could institutionalize the commercial/banal. For example, what would the implications of musealizing a Denny’s be? How might one design big box architecture in a way that places an emphasis on permanence, institutional authority, and clarity of concept? Another important thread of the final discussion was whether deinstitutionalizing the institution was a project that was too cynical or perhaps not cynical enough. Did this thesis reside in the camp of cynical commentary or was it emblematic of how architects should reconsider institutions? Although the project was indeed deemed cynical, it was agreed upon that cynicism seemed like the exact tone required for someone interested in deinstitutionalization as a theme.
Bibliography
Jarzombek, Mark, “Dresden/’Dresden,’” Memory and Architecture, ed. By Eleni Bastea. Albuquerque, Univ. of New Mexico Press, 2004. Leach, Neil, “9/11,” Urban Memory: History and Amnesia in the Modern City, ed. By Mark Crinson. London, Routledge, 2005. Nietzsche, Freidrich. On the Advantage and Disadvantage of History for Life. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1874. Rendell, Jane. Art and Architecture: A Place Between. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Rendell, Jane. “Between Two,” The Journal of Architecture 8, (Summer 2003): 221-238. Wodiczko, Krzysztof, Critical Vehicles, Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999. Weschler, Lawrence. Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Young, James E. At Memory’s Edge: After-Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Acknowledgements
I would like to particularly thank Perry and Amy Kulper for sharpening what was a muddled interest in German anti-monuments into an argument for deinstitutionalization. I would also like to thank Craig Borum for keeping the project in gear, detailed and specific. Finally I would like to thank Kricket for assisting with the model and providing essential encouragement.
Final Exhibition