Forms of Spectacle and Solutions to Vacancy

Forms of Spectacle and Solutions to Vacancy, a project by Nicholas Bastis, David Fleishman, Brandon Pass and Beidler Elementary.


Forms of Spectacle and Solutions to Vacancy from Nick Bastis on Vimeo.

From the project web page:

Forms of Spectacle and Solutions to Vacancy sought to subvert the normative construction and distribution hierarchies of destination-object architecture. By building and celebrating the "opening" of a replicated 1:1 scale Frank Gehry structure in an under served neighborhood of Chicago's west side, the installation and performance examined certain architectures as symbols of capital power, testing the perceived strength of Gehry's aesthetic and its rumored ability to seemingly transform a neighborhood's social and economic infrastructure. [...]

The replica achieved its realistic look with the use of laminates and veneers but was built almost entirely from degradable materials, allowing for participation in the assembly process from people of all ages and construction experience and avoiding any permanent imposition of the architectural experiment on the community. [...]

Instructions for how to build the replica have been distributed in cities throughout the country free of charge [and as PDFs -- plan and assembly -- on the project web page] as a way of open sourcing the architectural material and continuing the conversation beyond the event itself.