Design Thesis Projects
Completed at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (2018-2019)
Writings and Manifestos
Post-Internet Architectural Disillusionment
Thoughts constrained to 280 characters, connections made through hashtags, and memories are not memories without a filter. The only life worth living is a life online. Digital images create stories narrated carefully behind the safety of our screens. Reality is the only realm where sadness exists. Avoid it at all cost. We are at constant odds balancing multiple “Me’s” in both the digital and physical realm, and now, conceding our physical world for that of digital realm. Finally, independence from reality.
…Battery is running low
The internet has become ubiquitous in our lives, signifying our contemporary as the “Post Internet Era.” Digital capital is the only form of commodity worth striving for. We fetishize the digital image as we … like it … share it … and comment on it. It consumes our desires as we phene for the next ‘mention’ or ‘interaction’ within our global village. Our time must be allocated toward our digital selves as we fabricate our existence … Fake it… Photoshop it… Filter it… and hashtag it. See our lives are good… see we are happy.
…Now it is red
Architecture and design are not exempt from our new reality. In fact, they are thriving. Architecture is no longer for the physical realm, now only experienced in the digital realm. Design is condensed into collaged moments and fifteen second clips, consumed at the rate in which we scroll. Ideas are no longer validated on the archaic principles of merit, experience, or innovative thinking but by likes, comments, and shares. Both everything and nothing can qualify as architecture within the homogeneity of our digital feed. Architecture has become analogous to the images of plated food and fancy cocktails...shared every second...updating with society… updating with the internet.
…Now it is dead
Silence. The screen does not speak. Scream, but who will hear you? Who will like it? Who will comment? Quiet and alone in reality. Left to flounder in the physical...a realm constructed for the digital.
Retweet.
This writing is currently submitted to LOG Magazine for Issue #44.A Situationist Sleepy Derive
Introduction
Dérive is an explorational process developed by Guy Debord in 1956. While at the time he was a member of the Letterist International, a Paris-based group of artist and theorists that went on to join others in later years to form the Situationist International. Debord defines the dérive as, "a mode of experimental behavior linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. It is an unplanned journey through a landscape in which participants drop their everyday relation and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there.” The most fruitful arrangement for this exploration consists of several small groups who have reached the same level of awareness since cross verifying personal impressions makes it possible to arrive at more objective conclusions. The modern interpretation of the Situationist International manifesto can be discovered through the wandering of this internet page. The dérive is a voluntary activity although to those who are complacent or do not understand “we say with utter contempt: The Situationist, of whom you perhaps believe yourselves to be the judges, will one-day judge you. We await you at the turning point that will mean the inevitable liquidation of the world of privation in all forms.”
Complacent Architecture for A Complacent Society
A society rooted in specialization is a society rooted in complacency and apathy. It accepts without judgment or question a living condition that neuters all essence of ecstasy in one’s life. The mindless conformity destroys all individual texture to our culture creating a fabric that has no depth or variation leading to an unstimulated disengaged existence.
Mythical Economics
The success of a system can be equated to the production of profit in relation to the operational consequences. Operational consequences, a term that allows one the hide behind a shroud of denial. Denial that one’s pursuit in this capitalistic global economy is solely the number of zeros on ones paycheck. A form of currency that society has accepted. A virtual economy that is used by the many however only understood by the few. The few that capitalize on the many resorting the many to nothing more than slaves to their unrealized potential.
Involuntary Segregation
The segregation of today’s society is such that it has managed to bridge the gaps of one’s physical appearance. These bridges, however, are in a fragile existence in today’s society. The segregation that exists today is more devious hiding in the very containers in which we live. The segregation of dwellings based on economics is nothing new however our society ignores it. Acknowledging this segregation would mean the confrontation with one’s own morals and self-conciseness in our hierarchical society.
Historical Chokehold
American Modernist planning promised us cities of the future and a better life for everyone, a promise that never delivered. Instead, we received decentralized cities connected by expressways twenty lanes wide packed bumper to bumper with gas guzzling cars poisoning out atmosphere. With the sprawl came the creation of extensive infrastructure networks including roadways, sewers, stormwater, and electrical lines. Infrastructure that is currently strangling our cities economies as they struggle to support and maintain them. One can only reflect on the repetition of history and speculate if the future of our cities are destined to reflect the Roman’s massively expanding empire and how that lead to its eventual demise.
CHAOS OF A DOUBLE LIFE
We manage more than one “me”. Our digital persona is carefully curated and exaggerated, while behind closed doors there is chaos. The spectrum of human emotion is dense. Happiness, sadness, and anger only begin to scratch the surface, there is no longer a need to manage them, just fabricate them. Thoughts are constrained to 140 characters, connections are made through hashtags, and memories are not memories without the right filter. Everyone else, they are just pretending too.
Fake it, Photoshop it, google it, hashtag it…chaos chaos chaos….but the screen does not speak. Silent in your hands, but only for a second….like it, favorite it, comment on it….chaos chaos chaos. Fear of missing out? No. Fear of not posting it. Fear of being judged. Fear of our physical persona not living up digital….chaos chaos chaos. Battery is low, it is red, and now it is dead, chaos? Not anymore. Quiet and lonely. Scream, but who will hear you? Who will like it? Who will comment?
The only life worth living is a life online. Narrating your own story carefully behind the safety of your screen. Reality is the only realm for sad now. Avoid it at all cost. We are conceding to the digital world and declaring our independence from reality. No longer chaos, just life, a life finally in our control.
Retweet. FOR BAD TASTE
Good taste is accepted as the ideal object, representation, or moment in time. Is good taste the ideal? Who decides the ideal? Status quo is the ideal. Fame is the ideal. Security the ideal. Comfort is the ideal. Routine is the ideal. Wealth is the ideal. A fence is the ideal. The ideal is binary. The ideal becomes standardization. Expression and provocation. The anti-ideal. When seeking the ideal, anything less than conformity fails you.
The embracing of bad taste is the embracing of a world of possibilities and accepting beyond personal belief. In an ideal world, nothing is ideal. A Modern Day "Ornament and Crime"
Every age has its style, our current age has not had the pleasure of being refused one but instead has accepted the camouflage of ornamentation with open arms. I will not stand idly by as our age is remembered for poorly constructed stick frame buildings. With the highest design intelligence being applied to the shape of the swoosh or squiggle created by a generic panel. Our generation should not be remembered for the digital platforms accessed by mass-produced devices out of date the second they are released to the public, that allows one’s propaganda to go viral all for the sake of marketing and internet fame.
This camouflaged ornamentation has created a hallucinogenic cloud distorting its devious intention of destroying our people, physical health, national budget, and cultural evolution.
The modern person desires to have the newest and greatest things. This capitalistic view is reflected in the building’s collaged facades as well as the modern gadgets that are specified in the building’s interior. These interiors are then packed with modern technology, seeking to satisfy the desires of the modern person. Our society is consumed with owning the newest technology, handbags, shoes, and any other article that fulfills their endless wants. The modern person no longer concerns themselves with the quotidian basics of life since credit cards and in short, consumerism has flattened out our class structure…
… Modern ornamentation is no longer linked to our culture. Global capitalism has seen to the death of this. The mass production and distribution of things have stunted the evolution of any type of cultural heritage. The same products we cover our bodies with are available in stores all over the world and thanks to internet even remote areas have access to this whitewashing of culture. Our society is filled with conditions that exist everywhere but belong nowhere. Our cities are littered with generic buildings clad with false facades that have no relation to their context or the heritage of the city in which it is part of…
… It is crucial that there is a placing of importance for responsible ornamentation, specifically regarding the craftsmen of our society. In addition, it will allocate the time of factory workers to more meaningful and human tasks. Our cities will no longer be plagued by false facades made up of thin brick and a collage of horrific paneling systems but instead will be clad in a singular white material. Allowing true cultural buildings of the city to shine through into the modern light is the best way we can educate our youth about the importance of our culture and heritage. Then and only then will our society be able to stop the degeneration of our people, cities, and culture.
A MODERN MANIFESTO FOR READYMADE ART - FALL 2017
READYMADE: Art alters reality and forces its own perception. It is a form of communication. It is decided purely by the one who gives it intention. With its changed significance, art is art regardless of aesthetic. Art provokes question.
REALITY: We exist in multiple realities, physical and digital. What is real and what is not is in your hands.
COMMUNICATION: Mass communication is conceivable amounts of information. Message is more important than truth.
INTENTION: Your idea is valid. Share it with the world.
SIGNIFICANCE: Good, bad, or ugly...the "like" button will free you.
QUESTION: Take a side and debate. What is the point without one?
Post-Internet Architectural Disillusionment - Spring 2018
A Situationist Sleepy Derive - Winter 2017
Chaos of a Double Life - Winter 2017
Bad Taste - Fall 2017
Architects, or The Voluntary Prisoners of Standardization -Fall 2017
Manifesto For The Image as Architecture - Fall 2017
American Cities in a State of Delirium - Fall 2017
A Modern Day Manifesto "Ornament and Crime" - Fall 2017
