You Say You Want A Revolution

In more ways than one, the current administration in this country is determined to obliterate choice. I will refrain from going into the intricate details, or reciting the complete laundry list (oh, let me count the ways), but this week, when a ‘Grand Design’ was announced regarding the architectural requirements for federal properties, it struck me how far the reach has extended. 

I will stand on my sociologist soapbox for a moment and point out that historically, Autocracies have been about limiting choice, and Democracies have been about having choice. Is your leader appointed (no choice) or elected (choice)? Did you declare your course of study in University (choice) or was it determined for you (no choice)? Autocrats do not want citizens to have choice, as it leads directly to curiosity, and from there to research, history, data comparison, and from there, difference. Difference is always a problem. Difference leads to questioning, to individuality, deviation and criticism, to contradiction. Difference inspires leaders. It inspires change. Difference is antithetical to hegemony.

So back to the buildings. This week an executive order was announced titled ‘Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again’ stating that any new or upgraded federal properties would be built only in the neoclassic, Greco-Roman architectural style. Boards set up to determine the use and scale of such buildings would be permitted to include neither architects nor architectural critics (Autocrats do not like critics). These Boards are instructed to negate brutalism, deconstructivism, and anything characterized as ‘modern’. “The classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style”.  In other words, (and in keeping with other aspects of the Federalist Society), there will be no choice. 

For an artist or a designer or an architect, for those who are, in fact, aesthetes, every detail is a decision, a preference, a choice. Every selection is about deviation from the ordinary, from what has been done before. Every single pick is about difference, about individuality. 

For my own taste, blending the classic with the modern results in the best design. Give me a high plaster ceiling with dental molding, a picture rail, an inlaid parquet floor, and adjacent, an intricately carved banister. Then fill that room with Calder, Miro, and Klee. I’m happy to add a sculpture by Rodin, and another by Giacometti. Throw in some antique Turkish textiles and we have ourselves a room. Do not limit my choice. Do not determine my aesthetic. Do not decide for me. And I will not decide for you. Because this is a democracy. Unless we let it slip away.