Under false flag:
“It already seems that De Zuidas will not become the bustling Amsterdam center that the urban planners promise us, but a soulless winding hole where virtual markets exclude cultural values,” I wrote in 2006 in a letter to Prof.Dr.J.M. (Jacqueline) Cramer, Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment. 16 years later I see how famous architects baked their own party cake at De Zuidas. Their children are allowed to blow out the suffocating stumps. Neoliberalism is celebrated with breathtaking architecture that will leave generations gasping for air. Design and business are hailed as art and culture. The pedantry of the market neglected to be meaningful and made artists unloved.
Excuse architecture:
The difficult marriage between landscape and wind energy takes place against a background of incompatible images of the time. Wind turbines speak modernist language: functionality determines their appearance, yield determines their raison d'être, ideology determines their politics. The contemporary landscape offers no space for a horizon of these old ideas. Sorry, but we are needed, they apologize for being there. Within the domain of the city, energy transition can go hand in hand with cultural change. In an urban environment, the focus will be on the semantics and appearance of wind energy. Wind construction in urban planning gives sustainability a cultural dimension and creates a new urban perspective.
Believe in Wind!
An ideal only becomes effective if a lot of people believe in a lot of the same thing. Ecocentrism dictates uniformity of vast black solar fields and dominant white windmills, but clashes with the desire for individuality, of individuals who choose who they are and want to become. A world that wants to subordinate God and man to nature opens climate adaptation to cultural diversity.
Ceremonial volume:
On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and recited his famous dream in which this country will one day fulfill its vow (of a free country) and it will be taken for granted that all people are equal. Opposite, in front of the Capitol, on January 20, 2021, poet Amanda Gorman talked about a skinny black girl who can dream of becoming president. With an ocean of time between them, they looked each other in the eye and talked about their dreamed America. The dream of Martin Luther King, set against the backdrop of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the abolition of slavery, evolved into Amanda Gorman's dream, set against the backdrop of the House of Representatives, where the first black woman in American history was inducted as vice president. The iconic black-and-white images of Martin Luther King's speech flew through time and transformed into the Brightly colored lecture by Amanda Gorman, perfectly styled in a bright yellow Prada cloak and blood-red headband. The physical space bordered between by the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol became a mental space between King and Gorman, and thus a space in time, where past and present became intertwined. Ceremonial volume was created, space that exudes meaning. Future spatial design transforms history into the actuality and imbues the present with time. It demonstrates how ceremonial volume impregnates public space. Space can make history evolve, even emancipate.
Citizenship for artworks:
Dutch politics excels in cultural disinterest. Governments hardly assign value to cultural heritage. Environmental art is worthless. Ignorance, indifference, rudeness and above all neglect are hers. Who is responsible for this? Does a work of art in public space belong to its owner or is it public property? Attributing citizenship to public works of art implies a cultural emphasis on responsible ownership and public belonging. It has no legal form, such as a monument status, but introduces a cultural possibility to express value and appreciation. By granting citizenship, the city and its residents reveal that the artwork is recognized and welcome.