So I would like to kick off my blog posts talking about something that involves my interests, as well as my major, and at the same time includes the topic of race that we have been discussing in class. The building I am talking about is The Jewish Museum in Berlin, Germany; which was created by architect Daniel Libeskind in 2001. It was originally meant to be a temporary exhibition but was so popular that it became a permanent museum. This museum is dedicated to telling the narrative history of German Jews which spans back over 2,000 years. With over 4,000,000 visitors to date, the Jewish Museum allows the viewer to get a sense of what the history of German Jews was like. The small slits of class on the sides and roofs of the building are supposed to represent the torture and discrimination that Jews went through. A lot of the stories are from the times of the Holocaust which was originally what this building was for. I thought this would be a good post to put up cause I believe it shows how race place such an important role even in creating building, from trying to portray an idea within a building to trying to get the viewer to experience a certain race’s perspective. I think it’s amazing that raze has such an impact on things such as architecture. Below is a link for a website that has pictures and even an interview with Daniel Libeskind himself.
http://www.daniel-libeskind.com/projects/show-all/jewish-museum-berlin/
Jared,
ReplyDeleteIts great to see how you are linking our discussions in class to your own passions and interests. My brother is an architect (Masters from UB) so I have had many discussions on the intersections of race and class and design.
I think this would be a great topic to start thinking about for our final and your potential contribution to the 'zine. Race and design interest in many interesting and complex ways, from something like urban segregation to the location of windows on the wall of a building to the placement of benches in public spaces. Exploring the ways architecture/design intersect with race and the other themes discussed in class would be a really interesting addition to our 'zine.
I am not sure if you have seen these texts before but here are a few books that look at architecture, urban design and physical spaces in relation to race. They could be useful resources for your contribution to the final project.
Mike Davis - City of Quartz (especially the fortress LA chapter)
Eric Avila - Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight
Robert Bullard - Sprawl City: Race, Politics, and Planning in Atlanta