The Values of Congestion Resides within Ourselves

“In the movement from low art to high art lies an element of the deferral of judgment. Judgment is withheld in the interest of understanding and receptivity. This is an exciting heuristic technique but also a dangerous one since liking the whole of pop culture is as irrational as hating the whole of it, and it calls forth the vision of a general and indiscriminate hopping on the pop bandwagon, where everything is good and judgment is abandoned rather than deferred.” - Learning from Pop

When we say that we can sense the pulse of Tokyo in the «da-me architecture» which includes some aspect of being «off», it means that even though the urban space of this city appears to be chaotic, in exchange, it contains a quality of freedom for production. - Made in Tokyo

    The first thing that comes to mind when I think of congestion is my desktop shortly after an architecture final review. Icons scattered literally everywhere, but I claim to have an organizational pattern present. To the unknown viewer, I probably look like an absolute madman. But returning to turn my computer on after the review and cleanse the aftermath, I find a kind of serenity in this moment. A depiction of the journey and madness that lead to something brilliant. I think of estranged music and art I admire that people probably can’t understand because it doesn’t reside in their minds and gives them comfort like it does to me.

    Why do these things give me pleasure, but others might not relate? Each human is wired differently, there are some things that work for some and some things that don’t for others. People enjoy things that bring emotion and feeling out of them. The value in congestion is understanding that. “Judgment is withheld in the interest of understanding and receptivity.” Just as someone may not be able to analyze the architectural landscape of Tokyo, there is value and organization that someone who has only known Tokyo their entire lives beholds. There's value in a program that combines a male’s locker room and oyster bar because it’s special to someone out there. There are elements of pop art that can be analyzed and appreciated when judgement is disconnected from the object and it is seen for its value to someone wired differently than you. This philosophy applies with architecture of the ordinary and congested as well.

Double Heads on Red - George Condo

Congestion - Koolhaas

Tokyo - Made in Tokyo