Jean Nouvel: To Be Authentic
Source
„Etre vrai“. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui č. 296, prosinec 1994, s. 49
„Etre vrai“. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui č. 296, prosinec 1994, s. 49
Publisher
Petr Šmídek
09.03.2023 13:10
Petr Šmídek
09.03.2023 13:10
Jean Nouvel
Defense of Authentic Architecture: It is necessary to be absolutely genuine.
The vast majority of buildings from the last fifty years are lamentable.
The vast majority of the population considers these buildings to be modern architecture - even though what we are dealing with is merely (forgive me the "merely") standardized and proliferating uncultured production of urgent necessities of the urban age. Poets come later! We must secure production, employment, growth!" Modern architecture is the result of serious planning by serious politicians, their serious offices, and eager collaborators, shadow architects who do not promote their name, which they sold along with their "urgent" plans.
Our time is crushing. Our time is undermining. Economic interest is identified with state interest. Great principles are damaged by petty selfishness, precisely that which transforms through minor trivialities in the voting booth. Thus, nationalism escalates once again. Xenophobia justifies itself by claiming there is little work, and approves the expulsion of foreigners. The hideous monster of fascism raises its head again, and all cultural efforts are regularly destroyed in the name of economic priorities.
Fear remains. Fear of the uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Fear of outbreaks of violence, fear of the voter who punishes uncertainty and... ugliness. Politicians of the city and environment favor symbolism: see the demolition of the Lyon district of les Minguettes or the removal of electric poles in sensitive landscapes. They would like to ask the architect to promote here and there a little color, a few flowers, trees, to conceal too obvious harmful elements, in short, to once again... collaborate.
In our time dangerous for identity, when we are daily bombarded with information electrons, when we are over-informed and disinformed, when we are delighted by ready-made thinking, when we are regularly questioned about our opinions, when we are constantly air-conditioned, when we are mass-produced, therefore if in this time an architect wants to fulfill the task entrusted to him today by history, he must make a promise of authenticity, just as in other times and for other moral reasons others took a vow of poverty, chastity, or fidelity. Today, when it is dangerous to express oneself, when everyone is afraid of becoming unpopular, of contradicting themselves, when everyone fears losing their job, losing the respect of their superior, when people fear having an opinion that is in the minority, when everyone is afraid of being noticed, the moment arises when more than ever it is necessary to be genuine.
Many people stop thinking and agree that one can miss what is essential in life, that it is possible not to have an opinion, not to express oneself, not to have a history. The cowardly minimal risk actually becomes the greatest risk: one risks missing out on real life.
To be authentic (stemming from the deepest essence of personality. Note by J. N.) means wanting to be constantly alert, to be open to the teachings of history, to work on strengthening the culture, the details and foundations of which are constantly questioned. It means to defuse, to eliminate errors, to "work hard," to engage in what Bachelard called "the union of proof workers," to take on the role of a "specific intellectual." Being authentic means revealing palpable deficits of sensibility in the majority of places and buildings, deficits of art, of pleasure, which of course all began with a deficit of desire! Consequently, to be authentic means to disturb (in the emotional sense of the word), to transmit desire, original desire (in the opposite sense to duplicated) connected with the awareness of the genius of people and places.
To be authentic means finally to refuse to be the one who unifies culture, to reject copying in creation, to refuse following, when one is seeking a path. A time begins when hastily constructed nothingness will be transformed. These false places without a soul, devoid of charm, warmth, and without urns must be transcended through conviction, sincerity, will, and love of life.
“Etre vrai”. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui No. 296, December 1994, p. 49
Translated from French by Petr Turek
ŠVÁCHA, Rostislav. RYNDOVÁ, Soňa. Jean Nouvel: To Be True, Texts from 1984-1998, document for the exhibition at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, Prague, October-November 1998, pp. 9-10
The vast majority of buildings from the last fifty years are lamentable.
The vast majority of the population considers these buildings to be modern architecture - even though what we are dealing with is merely (forgive me the "merely") standardized and proliferating uncultured production of urgent necessities of the urban age. Poets come later! We must secure production, employment, growth!" Modern architecture is the result of serious planning by serious politicians, their serious offices, and eager collaborators, shadow architects who do not promote their name, which they sold along with their "urgent" plans.
Our time is crushing. Our time is undermining. Economic interest is identified with state interest. Great principles are damaged by petty selfishness, precisely that which transforms through minor trivialities in the voting booth. Thus, nationalism escalates once again. Xenophobia justifies itself by claiming there is little work, and approves the expulsion of foreigners. The hideous monster of fascism raises its head again, and all cultural efforts are regularly destroyed in the name of economic priorities.
Fear remains. Fear of the uncontrolled and uncontrollable. Fear of outbreaks of violence, fear of the voter who punishes uncertainty and... ugliness. Politicians of the city and environment favor symbolism: see the demolition of the Lyon district of les Minguettes or the removal of electric poles in sensitive landscapes. They would like to ask the architect to promote here and there a little color, a few flowers, trees, to conceal too obvious harmful elements, in short, to once again... collaborate.
In our time dangerous for identity, when we are daily bombarded with information electrons, when we are over-informed and disinformed, when we are delighted by ready-made thinking, when we are regularly questioned about our opinions, when we are constantly air-conditioned, when we are mass-produced, therefore if in this time an architect wants to fulfill the task entrusted to him today by history, he must make a promise of authenticity, just as in other times and for other moral reasons others took a vow of poverty, chastity, or fidelity. Today, when it is dangerous to express oneself, when everyone is afraid of becoming unpopular, of contradicting themselves, when everyone fears losing their job, losing the respect of their superior, when people fear having an opinion that is in the minority, when everyone is afraid of being noticed, the moment arises when more than ever it is necessary to be genuine.
Many people stop thinking and agree that one can miss what is essential in life, that it is possible not to have an opinion, not to express oneself, not to have a history. The cowardly minimal risk actually becomes the greatest risk: one risks missing out on real life.
To be authentic (stemming from the deepest essence of personality. Note by J. N.) means wanting to be constantly alert, to be open to the teachings of history, to work on strengthening the culture, the details and foundations of which are constantly questioned. It means to defuse, to eliminate errors, to "work hard," to engage in what Bachelard called "the union of proof workers," to take on the role of a "specific intellectual." Being authentic means revealing palpable deficits of sensibility in the majority of places and buildings, deficits of art, of pleasure, which of course all began with a deficit of desire! Consequently, to be authentic means to disturb (in the emotional sense of the word), to transmit desire, original desire (in the opposite sense to duplicated) connected with the awareness of the genius of people and places.
To be authentic means finally to refuse to be the one who unifies culture, to reject copying in creation, to refuse following, when one is seeking a path. A time begins when hastily constructed nothingness will be transformed. These false places without a soul, devoid of charm, warmth, and without urns must be transcended through conviction, sincerity, will, and love of life.
“Etre vrai”. L'Architecture d'Aujourd'hui No. 296, December 1994, p. 49
Translated from French by Petr Turek
ŠVÁCHA, Rostislav. RYNDOVÁ, Soňa. Jean Nouvel: To Be True, Texts from 1984-1998, document for the exhibition at the Jaroslav Fragner Gallery, Prague, October-November 1998, pp. 9-10
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