After The Revolution
Xavier Wrona
This is an architectural review, one that will not focus on “remarkable buildings” but on the massive and revolutionary architectural shifts of societies. We must be done with the idea that architecture is a history of buildings: architecture is the means by which a society embodies moral law in reality. It is the formatting of the real contained in each understanding of the world. This formatting affects all human production: clothing, music, class struggle, the latest gadgets, the colors and shapes of flags… Architecture is a function, it is the transmission belt linking ideas to the construction of the world. It is that by which a system of ideas attempts to perpetuate itself throughout history and across territories. What is at stake in architecture is the total sum of effects a new world order entails in the organization of reality. In this process, buildings are only models of the world order.
After The Revolution is a review devoted to the analysis of this new global architecture.
After the Revolution was created and produced by Xavier Wrona during his fall 2015 residency at the Rebuild Foundation in the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago. After The Revolution features interviews and discussions with Chicago cultural historian Tim Samuelson, barber and business owner Clemon Clay, sociologist Terry Clark, architect Ido Avissar, Chicago activist Lavon Pettis, writer Ytasha Womack, Chris Cutrone aka “The Last Marxist”, and several others.
Airing November 10 – November 30, 2015
Nov 10: Episode I
– Georges Bataille’s definition of Architecture
– Presentation of the exhibition Georges Bataille, Architecture, Chicago and World Order: an Essay on General Economy. Part 1/9
– A discussion with Tim Samuelson about the ideological dimensions of Chicago’s built environment.
Nov 11: Episode II
– The meaning of this architectural TV show
– Georges Bataille’s definition of “Formless”
– Finding pictures of the Greater Grand Crossing area during the 70’s
– A discussion with Clemon Clay about his Barber shop and the evolution of social organizations in his neighborhood
Nov 12: Episode III
– Silent Film of the City of San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake
– Discussion with Sociologist Terry Clark on World Order, Neoliberalism and Austerity
– Time Laps movie of the deconstruction of the Star Theatre in NY in 1901
Nov 13: Episode IV
– Discussion with Architect Ido Avissar on Architecture and Laissez-faire
– Presentation of the exhibition Georges Bataille, Architecture, Chicago and World Order: an Essay on General Economy. Part 2/9
– M. Larry Scott “Original 64st Drummers of Chicago”
Nov 14: Episode V
– Discussion with Lavon Pattis, South Side Resident, Activist, in conversation about the Economy of the South Side and community empowerment.
– Presentation of the exhibition Georges Bataille, Architecture, Chicago and World Order: an Essay on General Economy. Part 3/9
Nov 15: Episode VI
– Discussion with Ytasha Womack, Writer, Journalist, Director and a resident of the South Side of Chicago. This discussion is looking at the long tradition of organizations in the African American communities and more specifically in the South Side: Cultural specificities, non-linear thought processes, possible futures and self fictions are amongst the many themes that Ytasha enlights all along this journey.
Nov 16: Episode VII
– Presentation of the exhibition Georges Bataille, Architecture, Chicago and World Order: an Essay on General Economy. Part 4/9
– Discussion with Chris Cutrone, aka “The Last Marxist”. The disappearance of entire structures of worker’s organizations, the ideological dialogue between Marxism and Neoliberalism, the fear of political organization and engaging in debate on the part of leftist intellectuals or the absence of a “plan” as an alternative to the current state of affairs are amongst the numerous topics that are discussed here.
For more information, please visit after-the-revolution.tumblr.com