I C A R C H 

AGAINST WAR

Dear Architect,


Almost all wars are criminal. But some are more than others. And some make even the whitest house, less white...


Today, exactly ten years ago, such a war started...


It is possible architecture cannot save life, but perhaps it can try...


Thank you.

    AN ANTI-MONUMENT ON A CERTAIN RANCH, IN TEXAS



The least severe estimates regarding the number of casualties of the Iraq war are around 100,000.

Of these, more than 4,000 were Americans.

But, and this seems to be somehow, and strangely, less important, 96,000 were Iraquis.

Again, this is the least severe estimation.

The most severe is over 1,000,000 people.

But of these the number of American casualties remains the same.

These are very, very troubling realities. And we didn't even mention those wounded, those crippled and damaged to the point where maybe death would have been preferable...

We wonder, what does the ex-"Commander in Chief" feel, when he enters a church…?????? (because he still does, strangely... very, very strangely...)

Is he still smiling, if not laughing…????!!!!!!

We don’t know all the political machinations behind this tragedy of colossal proportions.

If we only felt and thought that when one single person dies, everybody dies, then maybe our life on this earth would be different.

It is hard not to be bitter, sarcastic, caustic, very, very angry and very, very sad when you read these statistics.

Are these politicians who provoke such tragedies aware of the immense suffering they give birth to…???????????

One single amputated arm should make ANY president shudder at the thought of initiating a war.

But how can we fight against such horrid "human" actions…???????????

We are powerless.

The War Machines of this world can crush us into nothingness... they can make us disappear... The War Machines of this world are frighteningly omnipotent, while we are mere shadows, barely living at the periphery of a life controlled by them...

We abhor force.

And when this deadly, inhuman force finds its "command center" on the land of a vast and idyllic ranch somewhere in Texas, we wonder…

How could we take a mental revenge…?????????

How could we at least make a restorative gesture, a redeeming gesture towards establishing some kind of fairness…???? (even if the chances of success are dim, even though this is not quite possible.)

So we ask you to design AN ANTI-MEMORIAL… on a certain ranch, in Texas… a structure that would act as a MEMENTO MORI for all those between 100,000 and 1,000,000 people who died a inutile death. And for those many more tragically wounded, physically, mentally, emotionally. A worthless death. They died and were wounded for no reason, or a "secret reason" that we do not know... but nu reason should be found behind such tragedies. It was a large scale crime, to this day not punished, not punished at all... We wonder: would Jesus still have recommended to NOT raise the stone...?!?!? Would He still have recommended to turn the other cheek...????????

So please imagine, dear architect THE HOUSE OF GUILT, on this very ranch… to commemorate, as a kind of ANTI-MONUMENT, the ignoble Iraq War… Make it in such a way so the seemingly happy inhabitant of the aforementioned ranch would shudder in terror, when he sees it, in his way to a happy hunting session or other pleasurable “outdoor” activities that to this day "a true man" enjoys.

And let’s dedicate this reprobating monument to all those people who died a violent death or who were terribly wounded… let's give a visual expression to their post mortem PROTEST! Let's raise our voices, together, against the inhumanity of the powerful... powerful against all of us and life itself, but not powerful enough to control their own frailty, greed, despicable self-centeredness and inhuman lack of even the most basic sensitivity.


And maybe we should make a replica of this monument, or anti-monument, in London too, so the happy friend of the happy inhabitant of the aforementioned ranch would face it too… or design TWO anti-monuments, to be “enjoyed” by both “civilized parties”… those that tried to give a lesson in "civility" to the very place where actually civilization started.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery



Just imagine, as a possible example,  giant sculpture, immense, showing two men, an American soldier and an Iraqui civilian (or soldier, it doesn't matter), both very wounded and dying, supporting each other in their fall to the ground, throwing a huge shadow on the land of the mentioned ranch, so when its happy inhabitant would exit his house, he would see them... giant, both falling towards the entrance door of the house of this one who was quite instrumental in their shared death... an anti-monument reproaching the happy inhabitant of the ranch of the Day of Judgment, if the happy inhabitant of the ranch still believes in his official religiosity in a final judgment...



Or imagine covering the 15,000 acres of the ranch with over 100,000 humble crosses... yes, transform the happy ranch into a giant cemetery... or circle the happy ranch with a thick wall having inscribed on it all the names of those killed "in action" or wounded "in action"... or killed or wounded in no action at all, that is, while sleeping, or walking, or just looking through the windows...



These are mere suggestions... the possibilities to MANIFEST THE VEHEMENCE OF YOUR PROTEST are endless. MAKE IT HEARD. DO NOT HIDE IT, DO NOT POSTPONE IT. Such a war could at any time start again... at the very thought of it our conscience shudders... Please, dear architect, FIGHT, even at this level... we believe that even the smallest gesture COULD have an effect... it would not get lost... IT IS BETTER TO DO "SOMETHING" THAN TO DO NOTHING.



TO LIVE IS TO DO "SOMETHING."



AND WE INVITE YOU NOW TO DO "SOMETHING" (it almost doesn't matter what) SO SUCH TRAGEDIES WOULD NOT HAPPEN AGAIN... even if we know that the beast in the human chest will refuse to die... but we MUST try to kill it... this is what Goya tried, with his Disasters of War, this is what Picasso tried, with his Guernica... and we mentioned only two examples...



DO NOT BE SILENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



This is not about us, it is about LIFE.

                              A HOUSE FOR A "PAINTER"



After reading through the link below, it is hard to remain optimistic.



http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/21528784/cumming-artists-teaches-george-w-bush-how-to-paint

And after seeing the picture above, even more so.

We have only one word:

SINISTER.

It is a sinister world a world in which someone not totally removed from the responsibility of participating, if not provoking the death of many more than 100,000 people, not to mention the wounded, paints these Hallmark little dogs...

ABHORENT.

No wonder someone commented below the article mentioned above in this way:

Joni Pelkonen · Top Commenter

"I do remember certain other right wing politician, from Austria, who tried his  hand as painter..."    

And when we see our "painter" together with the former Pope, all cozy in their togetherness, we become even more depressed.

WHAT KIND OF A WORLD ARE WE LIVING IN...????????

It is bad enough that a war provoked by you leads to so much death and suffering, but then to paint puffy white dogs all smiles and wearing an apron "not to get dirty" is the summum of abjection.

Again, SINISTER.

It is hard to imagine something more sinister.

In another picture attached you can see the "painter" actually painting a little, sweet church... HOW SENSITIVE, indeed...!!!!!!!!!????????

We are moved to tears.

Indeed, it is not very common to have such sensitive people occupy presidential positions...

Just imagine, a "Commander in Chief," painting placid little white dogs, all puffy and all, not to mention the bucolic church,,,

O Van Gogh...!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

Would you still call yourself a painter, after witnessing this...???????????

It is no secret: the white architecture the Austrian "painter" the commentator above dreamed of was in stark contrast with the redness (because bloody) concentration camps and war zones whose author he was... the more bloody (thus red) his crimes, the whiter his dreamed of architecture.

Again, SINISTER.

And indeed we cannot avoid the parallel, inasmuch as we dislike it, when we look at the Hallmark little dogs herein reproduced, painted by someone who had no problem at all to participate, if not provoke, a deadly war that killed immense numbers of people and exhausted immense resources of all kinds, in the process...

And all of this, as if nothing happened...

Here he is, our "painter," all cozy and with a sweet apron, insulting the art of painting with his sinister sweetes...

We cannot avoid the word:

SINISTER.

As sinister also was Chanel 5 (Fox TV) in the States that created this very sadly vulgar program... obscene in all its obviousness and implications.

How could this be, we ask in astonishment...?????????????

HOW COULD THIS BE...???????????????

Do we learn anything...???????? It doesn't matter what schools we go to, it doesn't matter what museums we go to, it doesn't matter what books we read, it doesn't matter what grades we get, it doesn't matter what churches we get into, the CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR combined with equally CRIMINAL UN-AWARENESS remain there, CRIMINALLY UNDISTURBED.

BE MOLIERE, dear architect, BE MOLIERE, or GOYA, or...~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IMAGINE A HOUSE THAT WOULD TELL WHAT YOU FEEL...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MAKE IT AS SAD AND ACID, even if uselessly, AS POSSIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SCREAM, SCREAM, SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you,


ICARCH Gallery

                      A HOUSE FOR A DOG AND A FLAG



The text below was inspired and provoked by an article published in The New York Times by the art critic Roberta Smith about George Bush's "art."

Please read through this link:



http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/the-secret-art-of-george-w-bush/

The reference to Jasper Johns could appear unexpected, unwarranted and ridiculous, actually.

But somehow, in a strange way, maybe it is not so... even if we feel that the author of this article might not have been totally aware of all the implications.

Let us contemplate the famous painting depicting the American flag by Jasper Johns and the puffy white dogs by George W. Bush.

What do they communicate...?

The flag is a flat flag, if you ask us.

It is morally, even aesthetically, not engaged and engaging.

It is the least patriotic flag ever painted and this, in a way, it is a quality, maybe its highest.

Yet, there is a perversion here... to depict a flag, particularly "your own" in this way, could indeed raise questions: first, why did you choose to paint a flag, THIS flag...? And second, why in THIS way...????????

It seems Jasper Johns does not quite believe in the ethos of this flag (or any flag for that matter).

A certain skepticism is obvious, but this skepticism is present in all his oeuvre.

On the other hand, Bush's puffy little white dogs communicate that frightening disengagement from the "dark side" of life and art alike, that makes truth a reality and not a fiction.

Could it be that the man who painted the little dogs was / is the same man who had no problem to initiate, or contribute vastly, to a devastating war...????????

But Bush does "meet" Johns.

They are both silent about the ultimate truth, although of the two it seems Johns is a little more aware than Bush, but does not communicate his awareness in an open, engaging and responsible way.

He prefers to remain silent.

And when it comes to war, that is to DEATH, we might actually say, criminally silent.

Yes, he could not have anticipated the horrors of the Iraq war. He painted the flag much earlier. But there is a certain indifference in his painting that could lead one to the impression that the immense powers this particular flag symbolizes are somehow so big that they are "beyond good and evil."

Such a mentality leads to the war too.

America's "exceptionalism" does seem to lead (itself) towards a posture that could indeed be described as "beyond good and evil."

Yet evil does exist, and it might not always be on "the axis of evil."

Evil could manifest itself through indifference too, very much so.

If you ask us, we feel the little puffy white dogs are evil, yes, evil, even if they seem to epitomize the very opposite: a Hallmark type of innocence and homeliness...

But this very kind of "innocence and homeliness" informed, with tragic consequences, a certain Heimat at mid XXth Century...

Excessive whiteness and "purity" and "homeliness" and "innocence", neglecting tragically "the other side of life," can only lead to that "sleep of reason" that generates monsters.

We hate to mention Hitler, but it is true that his depictions of an idealized world, countryside or otherwise, were in stark contrast with the terrible realities his political decisions generated. Between Stalingrad and the little German hut in the forest is such a huge distance that we shudder...

In the very same way, the little puffy white dogs depicted by Bush make us shudder.

And Jasper Johns' silence adds to our abysmal distress.

                          A HOUSE FOR TOMAS YOUNG



Thomas is a very nice name.

It is hard to imagine someone with his name being "bad." Or "mad."

Tomas Young is a young man whose life was totally destroyed by the war in Irak, a war he joined to defend his country against those who attacked it on September 11th.

He landed instead in Irak.

You can read about his tragic story below:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/iraq-war-vet-letter-bush-cheney-tomas-young-154541674.html

He is obviously not the only one.

Many, many more habe had their lives crippled by a senseless war, while one of the main decision makers to launch this war paints now all cozy and nice little dogs on small canvases.

SICK.

It is SICK.

Equally sick is the attention he receives from the media, from Chanel 5 to the "prestigious" The New York Times for his "artistic" nonsense.

While at the very same time someone like Tom Young is preparing to say good bye to this miserable life on this earth.

IS THERE JUSTICE IN THE WORLD...?????????????

HOW COME SOMEONE WHO PROVOKED THE DEATH OF HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE is cozily painting little dogs in his cozy exercise room is some comfortable mansion, ranch or villa, while at the very same time countless people either already died or went through and go through undelible sufferings...????????????

And when we see the former Pope all smiles together with the ex-Commander in Chief, our sadness, see despair increases accordingly.

The Church sold its soul, if it ever had one.

We understand, a protocol is a protocol... but to meet, in the name of a protocol, someone whose decisions sent to death probably several hundreds thousands people IS NOT RIGHT.

To return to Tomas.

To this idealistic man whose death is imminent, as it seems.

We urge you to look through the link above and imagine a modest architectural homage to him.

If the Bismarks of this world receive countless homages, certainly we can imagine a much small gesture of affection for someone who truly deserves it.

It could be anything... a small poem, a drawing, some whispers, a prayer, a flower exposed to the sunlight in his name, a compassionate and idealistic little house, an image of his soul.

Indeed, his life was waisted.

BY CRIMINAL POLITICIANS.

SCREAM, dear architect, SCREAM...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do it architecturally, since this is your job, if injustice makes you MAD, MAD, MAD.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery

                    A HOUSE FOR AN UNKNOWN IRAQUI



We know that the number of American casualties of the infamous Iraq War was 4,400 people and mpre than 30,000 wounded.

But we do not know the number of casualties of the "defeated"... the Iraquis...

Nobody really countem them "scientifically"...

Plus, they were too many...

No ceremony was probably held for them, unless we talk about the despairing tears of the family, if the family was not killed too.

It was estimated that more than 120,000 Iraquis died, but there are also estimates that go beyond 1,000,000.

Ah.......... the magic of this number: 1,000,000.

ONE MILLION.

We can see it daily, on the news... The Apex of Existence.

ONE MILLION.

That is, ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

When it comes to death it is different, especially when this death is actually a crime.

We are less proud and the numbers become less proudly displayed.

So let's imagine that we were one of those Iraquis who had the misfortune to be on the way of the bombs or the tanks or the rifles that ravished Irak for a good number of years.

At this moment, you would be DEAD.

Are we aware of the true weight of these four letters...???????

Usually, when we think of "four letters words" we think of something else, actually the very opposite: EROS.

But the power of THESE four letters, DEAD, is so grim, that we would rather not.

So, again, if you were on the way of the bombs and the tanks and the rifles that ravished Iraq for a good number of years, you would be DEAD.

And if you escaped death, somehow, you would probably either wounded, or a relative of someone wounded, if not dead.

Either way, your life would be crippled or totally destroyed.

For this UNKNOWN IRAQUI, whose life was either crippled or totally destroyed we ask you to imagine a house.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL HOUSE, although physical.

EXPRESS A SENTIMENT, through a physicality.

Make it anonymous, as its imaginary inhabitant, yet Iraqui, not American, not British, not French or German.

But Iraqui.

It wouold be an homage, yes.

A drawn or modeled homage.

The architects usually pays homage to those in power, to the Bismarks of this world.

To the emperors of this world.

We ask you to do the opposite.

Pay homage to an unknown "simple" man, or woman, or child.

And CRY.

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery