Reification and Representation: Architecture in the Politico-Media-Complex

ISBN-13: 9781138927414 / Angielski / Twarda / 2018 / 216 str.

Graham Cairns

Opis

The relationship between politics and advertising is controversial, polemic and seen by many as inherently manipulative. It is however, key to the political system in Western democracies and, as such, is well documented. However, one component of this relationship that has yet to be investigated is the role of architecture. This book represents a ground breaking triangular analysis of the relationship between architecture, politics and advertising. Representation and Reification investigates how images of architecture are used in the UK and US election campaigns as advertising backdrops, sets for photo shoots, metaphors in policy arguments, and how this has silently, but fundamentally, influenced built form through the ages. No longer seen purely as a case of constructed buildings only evident in dictatorships, this book presents a case for a fundamental reconfiguration of our understanding of political architecture. It is now equally a question of imagery and democracies. Identifying an as yet unexplored relationship between architecture and politics through the medium of commercialised political imagery, it argues this politicised and mediated use of architecture has fundamentally influenced its 20^th century development in both the UK and the US.

Spis treści

Introduction Section 1: The United States 1. From Lincoln to Obama –The Recent History of Architecture as Political Imagery in the United States. Barack Obama 2008. 2. Visualizing sub-prime: the premeditation and financial collapse of the housing market. George W. Bush 2004. 3. Trump Tower: The Neoliberal Overflow of Political Architecture. Donald Trump 2016 Section 2: The United Kingdom 4. Parliament, Sovereignty and British Political Identity. David Cameron. 2010 5. Right to Buy - The Architectural Imagery of Home. Margaret Thatcher. 1979 6. New Labour and the Age of Socio-Urban Economics Tony Blair. 1997 Conclusion Bibliography

O autorze

Graham Cairns is the author and editor of multiple books and articles on architecture as both a form of visual culture and a socio-political construct. He has held positions at universities in Spain, the UK, Mexico, the Gambia, South Africa and the US. He has worked in architectural studios in London and Hong Kong and founded the performing arts organisation, Hybrid Artworks in the 1990s. He is currently Chair of Architecture at Miami University, Ohio, Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, and Director of the academic research organisation AMPS and its scholarly journal Architecture_MPS.