This book consists of conversations between a Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas (founder of an architecture firm OMA) and a Swiss curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist.
After 11 years of living in the Western culture, I'm now focusing my attention to Asia, and I cannot deny Koolhaas' influence in this mind set. I'm interested in changes, forward-looking-ness, and chaos of Asia. There are many architects or designers that work for Asia or Middle East, but Koolhaas probably shares his experiences and studies about the culture more than others, and reading these simply fascinates me just like that was the case for this book. Koolhaas insights are poignant and that makes it not surprising that he was a journalist and filmmaker before becoming an architect.
Some memorable quotes from the book (all by Rem Koolhaas):
I don't think we've met anyone in the context of this project who is older than 45. There seem to be a generation of people between 35 and 45 who are responsible for everything at the moment. It's very interesting because when those people were very young, they experienced the cultural revolution; when they were 12, it was over and they were able to return to school, and when they were 18, they were able to go abroad. (…) What's more, I think this generation is not so obsessed with getting rich. I think that's a kind of propaganda expressed by journalists, always with the latent suggestion of imminent collapse. There's a suggestion of that "materialism, abuse of human rights, desire to get rich" mentality.
Propaganda is usually defined by sound bites or by simplifying issues. The beauty of Europe is that you cannot simplify it, as it is an infinitely complex process.
After World War II, for the first time, it became possible to define a European narrative objective and to integrate the entire story without lying, but nevertheless negotiating the paradoxes that characterized Europe: that one nation's villain is another nation's hero.
I have realized that we are living in a completely paradoxical moment of modernization where all modernization is driven by nostalgia, on every level. Yet, we are absolutely disinterested in the past, in history. Auschwitz, for example, has become nostalgia, and there are more and more instruments of memory and less and less actual remembrance. That's quite a perverse thing. Nostalgia means living permanently in a form of denial, and what is particularly sinister about it is that it is driving the left as much as the right, intellectuals as much as the general population.
The book uses quite distinctive and unique typefaces but they sit rather comfortably and the book is really easy to read in terms of readability. It was designed by French design studio M/M Paris.
わたしが自分の視点を欧米からアジアに移すきっかけとなったのは、オランダ人建築家レム・コールハースの影響。彼は、9.11WTC跡地のコンペに参加せず、中国の国営テレビ局CCTVに向かった人。「メモリアル」など後ろ向きなアメリカではなく、前を向く中国を選択して、揉まれながらも、時代の流れに乗っている印象。コールハースは、「現状をありのままに認める」人で、建築や街における「資本主義」や「ショッピングという行為」「セックスやドラッグ」「開発のスピード」といった一種の悪とされるものも観察していてる。オランダ人らしからぬワーカホリックでもってすごくストレートで真面目。彼を見てると、世の中、混沌な方が面白いとさえ思えてくる。
そんなコールハースと、世界一のインタビュー好きスイス人キュレーターHans Ulrich Obristとの対談。
「CCTVのプロジェクトに携わった人で４５歳以上の人はいなかったと思う」「中国の３５歳から４５歳の世代は、あまりお金に執着はないと思う」（インタビュー年不明）「ジャーナリストは中国のイメージを物質主義、人権問題、お金にどん欲、というので安易にまとめるけれど、それはプロパガンダ的なものだ」と言っていたのが印象的。ロンドンに住む中国人で、中国人全般は語れないとは思うけれど、わたしの知っている中国人も、お金に対してあまりギスギスした印象はない。
というよりまず、「国営テレビの象徴的ビルの建設」に携わる人々が４５歳以下というのは、年功序列の日本人からしたらショックですよね。日本の大手テレビ局（国営テレビだとNHK）のビルの建設となったとき、日本だったら逆に、「４５歳以下は一体何人いるか」というレベルですよね、きっと。中国の経済成長を、人口、資源や国土面積を理由に挙げることも出来るけれど、ちゃんと若手が力を発揮出来るようなダイナシズムも育っているのかな、とコールハースの話を読んでいて思いました。
ちなみにこの本のデザインはフランスのデザイン事務所M/M Parisが手がけていて、癖のあるタイポグラフィーが特徴的ですが、それでいてとても美しいです。
★★★☆☆