Printing for Protest | Meditation Fields and Stages of Protest

Falun Gong is a complicated cultural issue concerning human rights in the People's Republic of China. Their existence as an organization is inflammatory in the eyes of the government. Yet, their grassroots efforts abroad have led to the discovery of practices in the suppression of speech among other policies.(1)

As a matter of fact, the notion of protest is part of an underlying narrative in my mind as I try to cut through the noise in the architectural game, but rarely is it brought forth as direct inspiration. The case is personal but, we, as conceptual designers are looking for ideas and new formations for the different ideals we stand for, but when it hits a political tone, it might conflict with the agenda of the usual architectural static. If we stand for up for politically sensitive topics, is the consequence a potential danger for a successful career in the avant garde?  

Pinpointing, the power players of the future have the chance to question the hypocrisies of text set in mortar as we compare the words of the masters and their built-work. Correspondingly, the old paragons of the avant garde have seemingly betrayed their early radical critiques of institutions which – in-the-end – have become their leading financial backers in the practice of their construction projects. Read: Rem Koolhaas/OMA's et.al project for CCTV in Beijing(2). Are the practices of freedom of speech and creative freedom the compromises if we indulge ripened commercial opportunity?(3)  What democratic utilities do western designers compromise in order to achieve ultimate build-ability in non-democratic states?(4) This text must only entice this idea unto the point of rhetoric; however here, I can present a new image spurned by this underlying argument.


Site Story:  Most recently, I was inspired by the protests in Taipei occurring peacefully along the traffic flows on the commercial dragways.  This road in particular is of Zhongxiao rd., one of the primary - east-west corridors. The practitioners at the tail-end of the protest were the Falun Gong supporting the political demonstration among others. With the help of a faithful translator, all signs in the protest attempted to inform the local Taiwanese, that not all Chinese tow-the-party-line of the Communist government censorship to information(5). The peaceful walk entailed a strategy to counter the widely held notions of an Asian monoculture endorsing one form of political thought. Without precluding the obvious risks of doing so, they walked forth with their families as a diverse set of citizens.


In order to bring forth the corresponding image, one will note the color-ques applied. As a concept, the image recalls the abstract memory in a top-down perspective view. Clusters of people banging drums, wearing yellow, and walking in a solidarity for free-speech on foreign territories.  In the manner of transparency, I was touched by their tribute, and I dedicate this piece to the memory of that demonstration. 

As concept leads to perception and ultimate actualization, other references reveal veritable fields of yellow. Research reveals protestations represented in matrix-like arrangements of meditating practitioners(6). There a stage for protest occurred. But here, for a moment, we might indulge the memory in a new abstracted formation. 

Image and Text source: Copyright of the Author, Brad Sliva | Experimental Processes Studio | All Rights Reserved.
Footnotes: 
1. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/world/asia/28china.html
2. While other architectural practices could be added to the line-up, Rem Koolhaas', being widely published, deserves further critique. And while it is not the objective of this piece to call out any of the other hypocrisies occurring within the field of the built environment, we can readily concede that the building process, especially involving governments is never an issue of absolute values. Or is it? In public forums, we must leverage the reticence to critical evaluation of such architectural kingmakers. Visual ques of the building are found here: http://www.arcspace.com/architects/koolhaas/chinese_television/ 
3: http://www.tienmao.com/archives/000858.html
4. Reductionists would invariably invoke Philip Johnson's adage that architects are essentially high-class whores – but this cannot be the stop-end of pursing a radical agenda.
5. "The Chinese government strictly censors the country’s newspapers, broadcast media and the Internet, blocking any information it considers sensitive." Source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2011/09/05/2003512489
6. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/16595/