Ahead of Monday’s collaboration between Virtual Design Festival and reSITE , the Prague urbanism conference has shared a video of a lecture by Michael Sorkin, in which the late architect and critic quashes the lure of glamorised future city proposals.
In the talk, which took place at the 2015 reSITE conference, Sorkin highlighted problems of the idealistic representations of future urban plans.
“We have a tendency to look at representations of new cities and quarters as a kind of pornography, the gaze that maligns and entraps,” Sorkin said.
“For many years, these representations have often come in a protective, dystopian wrapper, reinforcing the idea that the visionary is ipso facto evil.”
Sorkin, who died last month of complications due to coronavirus, was regarded by many as the most important architecture critic of our time.
“I am heartbroken. This is a great loss,” tweeted New York Times architecture critic Michael Kimmelman on hearing news of Sorkin’s death.
Financial Times architecture correspondent Edwin Heathcote described Sorkin as a “fierce and brilliant critic, perhaps the best”.
In his reSITE lecture Sorkin, who was director of the graduate programme in urban design at City College of New York (CCNY), recounted asking students to bring in visuals of ideal cities.
He said he became concerned when a number chose dystopic, science fiction films, like Blade Runner, which presented a heavily controlled, futuristic Los Angeles in glamorous cinema.
“There was a long and troubling period when a very large percentage of them brought in an image from Blade Runner, the Fifth Element or similar,” Sorkin continued.
“Images of undeniable graphic power but ultimately completely sinister meaning,” Sorkin added. “I think this reflects both the incompetence and bad motives of authority and a kind of negative celebration of popular empowerment.”
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