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Schwartz vs Alsop... Better late than never...
Martha Schwartz responded to Will Alsop's vile anti-landscape architect comments - of one year ago at the RIBA conference in Paris - by inviting him to a debate. Wallpaper has video excerpts. The gist of what Alsop said is that landscape architects should never design public space because they have institutionalized it. Then he goes on to say how we can't even identify street trees when asked...
Go Martha! You have to admire her - and I guess even thank her - for her response - no one else is doing it! (Even though it took a year... as I said, better late than never!)She definitely brings the showmanship quality to the field, which sometimes feels like the only way to hold ground against the league of tricksters and provacateurs in architecture.
We need more of these demonclownmonkeys. A recent lecture at Cooper Union by Adriaan Geuze of West 8 suggests that he too has a bit of this in his blood. Can we create some space for this trait to flourish?
PS I borrowed the term demonclownmonkey from a group show that painter Matthew Ritchie curated at Artists Space...