December 8, 2007

Is it Art? Or is it Real Estate?

There is something amiss this holiday season. News of the strike hasn't gotten any better, the housing sector is the red-headed stepchild of the economy, and arts funding has been cut again after promises of substantial increases. It's pretty blah, blah, blah. And that's just in Los Angeles.

But that feeling of something wrong is not just "the holidays" or "an LA thing." Wrong things happen everyday, around the world, and have been for quite a while now. And you are not the only one to feel that.

A Polish businessman and philanthropist, Daniel Czapiewski, decided to express that notion of dissonance by building an upside-down home, which brings tourists to the tiny Polish village of Szymbark. This isn't just an architectural whim, this is intended to let the visitor get in touch with a deep feeling of dischord, followed by nausea and dizziness, as an emotional metaphor for experiencing inhumanity.

So if you ever thought that a humanist who happens to be president of a wooden home manufacturing firm couldn't possibly be an artist, aren't you glad you get to think again?



:: bogna ::