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MEMORY AGAINST HISTORY: RETURN OF THE
MEMORY AGAINST HISTORY: RETURN OF THE REPRESSED
StAge 5 SeMeSter 1 2017/2018
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locAtion: viennA, AUStriA
The flak towers and several other sites/structures within Vienna have been made invisible to the public eye through the development of the cities identity. This project aimed to force confrontation of Vienna’s past within the city centre and bring the repressed back to the Innere Stadt.
INTRODUCTION
During Semester 1, I worked in the studio ‘Memory Against History: Return of the Repressed’, in which we looked into the key theories of the found of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, Vienna’s dark past and the idea of Vienna as a Potemkin city.
Freud’s theories on repressed memory and the return of the repressed were key in allowing us to have a psychoanalytic approach to Vienna and its history. A key text to aid the understanding of key Freudian and psychoanalytical terms was the ‘Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis’ by Charles Rycroft. Using theory challenged us to look at architecture through a different perspective and allowed us to be critical of the city and not be drawn in by the Potemkin façade Vienna currently portrays.
As a focus of the studio during the study trip to Vienna, we started by looking at the Ringstrasse development and the Flak towers which surround the city. The flak towers offered protection in a triangle formation surrounding the city becoming a significant defensive mechanism in the second world war. There are three pairs of flak towers that surround the city, however within the Innere Stadt you are unaware of the concrete giant’s existence.
The flak towers in Vienna have been made invisible to the public eye through the development of the cities identity. This can be seen in the way Vienna portraits itself in tourist maps and brochures, which exclude the Flak towers and other key sites of interest. The only acknowledged tower is the one which houses an aquarium and is therefore a ‘tourist attraction; it is acknowledged for its function and not its historical identity. Another key example of the exclusion of the flak towers is on the Giant Ferris Wheel where above the windows all around each cabin there are images of Vienna’s skyline with the important and significant sites and buildings clearly labelled. However, even though the flak towers cannot be missed as they are one of the most prominent structures along the skyline, they are not mentioned nor labelled and are ignored. This represents how the city is ‘thinking them away’.
The project aimed to force confrontation of Vienna’s past within the city centre and bring the repressed back to the Innere Stadt. Its past that Vienna would like to forget includes sites within the Innere Stadt which were related to the occupation during the second world war and have links with anti-Semitism. These have now become repressed memories of the city.
Through the project, the architecture constructed within Vienna imagines a city which confronts its history head on and accepts its role and involvement in its destructive past. The project would provide a steep learning curve to the inhabitants of the city, as well as its many tourists. This would allow the city to move forward and learn from its past decisions, which is not currently happening in present day politics in Vienna.
To allow the repressed to return, the city must be confronted with its past even if it attempts to reject it as it does at present. It will be confronted with the enormous presence of the flak towers and it will no longer be able to ignore the ‘dark Vienna’ of its anti-Semitic past. The city will no longer be hard-wired into thinking them away.
As previously mentioned, the flak towers play no role in the current identity of Vienna. The city is seen to be thinking them away and excluding them from tourist maps and brochures as though they wish to forget their destructive past. The Holocaust Memorial by Rachel Whiteread is the only example of Vienna accepting its past however there was very strong opposition during the design and construction process.
The Memorial to the victims of the Gestapo is located next to where the Gestapo headquarters once stood on Morzinplatz which I will explore further and the plaque on the small monument reads: “Here stood the House of the Gestapo. To those who believed in Austria it was hell. To many it was the gates to death. It sank into ruins just like the ‘Thousand Year Reich’. But Austria was resurrected and with her our dead, the immortal victims.”
The monument itself seems forgotten and is situated opposite an unpleasant area of the square surrounded by a petrol station and bus depot. This shows the reluctance again of Vienna to acknowledge its past.
Another key site which I will explore is Heldenplatz (Heroes Square). This is where the balcony from which Hitler did his famous speech is located. Even though there is a vast amount of empty space, there is no evidence of this nor memorial on this site.
The images to the left-hand side on this page show the 3 pairs of flat towers which surround Vienna. Top left: Flakturme VIII (G-tower) and Flakturme VIII (L-tower) both within Arenburgpark in Vienna. Middle images: Flakturme VII (L-tower) and Flakturme VII (G-tower) both in Augarten. Bottom image: Haus des meeres (aquarium Flakturme V (L-tower) and Flakturm V (G-tower located within military base). The images to the right are as follows from top to bottom: Holocaust Memorial by Rachel Whiteread located at Judenplatz, Memorial to the victims of the Gestapo at Morzinplatz and Heldenplatz.
‘Utopian consciousness means a consciousness for which the possibility that people no longer have to die does not have anything horrible about it, but is, on the contrary, that which one actually wants’ (T.Adorno)
In 1938 Vienna committed suicide.
The ensuing world war tore Vienna apart and left scars irreparably deep in the culture, population and psyche of the city.
Today, the scar of fascism runs deep in the visual language of the city, meanwhile Vienna attempts to write its legacy in the pages of history as the first victim of the war.
The images on the opposite page were self- produced for the symposium
The crystallization of this ideology is most clearly seen in the abandoned Flaktürmes protectively circling the Ringstrasse. As the legacy of Nazi occupation, they are defensively buried by the damaged psyche of Vienna. But as the problems of the city are continuously repressed (S.Freud) the warnings of history go unheeded and barbarism threatens a dramatic return.
Without a thorough assessment, the city will not heal from the trauma of war. Although much of the society operates behind closed doors, at night we glimpse the true city behind the Potemkin façade. Ultimately, Vienna comes alive when the light of day fades, offering us hope that cultural salvation is still possible.
Dark Vienna explores a Freudian approach; asking questions of Vienna to allow for a free associative symposium. Emancipated from its cycle of denial, the city will be able to progress towards an environmental and architectural authenticity. Our challenge is to accept that ‘architecture arouses moods in people, so the task of the architect is to give these moods concrete expression’ (A.Loos).
‘A liberated humanity would be able to inherit its historical legacy free of guilt…..aesthetic truth content and history are that deeply meshed’ (‘Black as an Ideal’ in ‘Aesthetic Theory’. T.Adorno)
The photos on this page show ‘Dark Vienna’ on the day of the symposium.
The flak towers offered protection in a triangle formation surrounding Vienna, becoming a significant defensive mechanism during the second world war.
From left to right: Image from symposium titled ‘Fading memory’ depicting how the flak towers are fading from Vienna’s memory, showing that they are ‘Thinking them away’. Image from sketchbook showing triangle formation of flak towers with Gestapo HQ in the centre. Image from sketchbook using wax and ink, with wax on inside of triangle and covering page in wax, with the wax protecting the inside of the triangle.
‘THINKING THEM AWAY’ Vienna Tourist Map
Illustration shows exclusion of flak towers from tourist map.
The images on this page show the key sites of ‘Erased Memory’ I want to incorporate into the final project. These are all sites which are located within the innere stadt and have links with anti-Semitism or were affected under the Nazi regime.
Images from top left to bottom right: Stephanplatz - showing St Stephans Cathedral Morzinplatz - former Gestapo Headquarters Dr Karl Luegar Platz - Anti-Semitic major inspired Hitler Rathaus - Nazi occupation Heldenplatz - Also known as Heroes Square
TRAIL OF ERASED MEMORY
Image shows the trail I want to create starting from the former Gestapo HQ at Morzinplatz, then to Dr Karl Luegar Platz, then Stephanplatz, Rathaus and finally ending at Heldenplatz.
Each site represents a different element that I believe Vienna needs to confront about its past regarding the Nazi occupation and/or anti-Semitism which are as follows:
Morzinplatz - Control Dr Karl Luegar Platz - Anti-Semitism Stephansplatz - Destruction Rathaus - Occupation Heldenplatz - Power
MORZINPLATZ
Morzinplatz was the home to the Gestapo headquarters during the occupation of the Nazis in Vienna which makes it a ideal site for the headquarters/main base for the urban project. The image above shows the former square on Morzinplatz with the former hotel before it was taken over during the regime.
The image to the right shows the destruction of the hotel which had been used at the time of destruction as the Gestapo Headquarters.
The image above shows the Memorial to the victims of the Gestapo on site at Morzinplatz. The above-right and bottom-right images are both montages, self produced showing the former Gestapo HQ on modern day Morzinplatz.
HISTORICAL MAPPING OF MORZINPLATZ
Each map shows Morzinplatz at a different moment in time in different situations. The first two maps show that the old city wall was once located on this site. Then after the destruction of the wall, the hotel was then built on this site where is stood until it was bombed whilst the Nazis occupied the hotel as the Gestapo Headquarters. The final map shows the layering of the bombing map of 1948 and the earlier 1812 map which includes the wall.
The table below shows my interpretation of various key Freudian terms from the Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis by Charles Rycroft. These terms then equate to a symbol which then becomes an architectural analogy.
The images on the right shows various process work from my sketchbook and additional work.
MORZINPLATZ PALIMPSEST
The image to the right shows a palimpsest of the old wall and bombed buildings and structures on the site at Morzinplatz. I overlayed the shapes to produce a form from which I can work from.
Images on left hand side of page of sketches from sketchbook use the architectural analogy depicted on previous table to create forms on the site.
The below section sketch shows the idea of underground elements to represent the ‘unconscious’ as well as a viewing tower to represent the ‘conscious’.
The diagram to the left shows the order in which you would journey through the site.
The sketch to the left shows an idea of what the final elevation could look like with the idea of the repressed structures emerging from the ground and the viewing tower simply being the dagger/shard at the end of the site allowing views out only to the flak towers.
The image above is a representational drawing showing an initial idea of the journey through the site and what a visitor would encounter as they move through the site.
Each emerging structure would contain a different element of the trail. Eg. The first structure picture with the Gestapo HQ on Morzinplatz, would contain a space confronting Vienna about ‘Control’ relating to the Nazi occupation and also the control with regards to the flak towers.
Site Plan NTS
Image to the right shows the final site plan on Morzinplatz showing the location of each emerging structure and the viewing tower looking out to each of the three pairs of flak towers at the end of the site.
The left-hand images from top to bottom show each site in the order of the journey through the Museum of Erased Memory.
The above diagram shows the movement through the site (red line) leading to the Illumination tower (viewing tower) at the end.
Projection Pod Plans and Elevations NTS
Visual from within Projection Pod at Heldenplatz.
Section B NTS
Originally shown at 1:400 on final boards.
SCALE IN METRES
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Floor Plans NTS
Originally shown at 1:500 on final boards.
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Section A NTS Originally shown at1:200 on final boards.
TRAIL OF ERASED MEMORY TOURIST MAP
Tourist map showing the sites to visit along the tourist trail. Sites are as follows:
1. Morzinplatz 2. Dr Karl Luegar Platz 3. Stephansplatz 4. Rathaus 5. Heldenplatz
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Visual of Museum of Erased Memory and the Illumination Tower
Top image: Visual overlooking Haus des Meeres Flak Tower from Illumination Tower were only the towers can be seen.
Bottom left image: Visual overlooking Augarten Flak towers from Illumination Tower.
Bottom right image: Visual from pathway within the Museum of Erased Memory.
REFLECTIVE CONCLUSION
The challenge for this project was to focus on key theories by those such as Sigmund Freud. Having found the key books written by Freud himself too complex I turned to more recent day texts such as the ‘Critical Dictionary of Psychoanalysis’ by Charles Rycroft and also ‘Freud: A Very Short Introduction to Freud’ by Anthony Storr, which both proved useful in allowing me to gain an understanding of the theories of Freud.
The group work aspect at the start of this semester with the whole studio working together for the ‘Dark Vienna’ symposium worked really well and as a group we were able to discuss and analyse what we thought of Vienna and how to move forward with the project. Due to the somewhat radical and set views our studio had with regards to how to present our work and what themes to focus on, it helped having the whole group work in tandem expressing these themes and views in various presentational styles throughout the semester. This allowed us to freely explore different media to work in such as paintings and charcoal.
I was pleasantly surprised how quickly you can take in a new city and learn numerous interesting facts within a week. However, the challenge I found was to try and look at Vienna with open eyes rather than look for the darkness I had come to find through research prior to the trip. It was clear whilst on the study trip that Vienna has attempted to disguise its destructive past through the Potemkin façade you now see. I would have never been so critical of Vienna without the prior knowledge of its recent history.
Having ensured that whilst in Vienna and also throughout first semester I thoroughly researched the city and explored quite a large proportion of it, I would hope this will help in the near future with the Semester 2 project which will also be set in Vienna.
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