Aesthetic Bankruptcy
There has been a lot written about DJT’s golden renovation of the White House’s Grand Ballroom, his putting up the infrastructure for a UFC event on the White House Lawn, and plans for a goddam Arch and yes – it is all appalling. Hugely so.
Yet, yet, I hasten to add that most members of the lanyard class – and DJT is surely one, although I expect he is not required to wear one when in the WH – might as well be from the planet Klingon in their attitudes about what constitutes an appropriate use of space, or of what might be aesthetically pleasing or uplifting for normal people.
As evidence, I offer below a photo I stole from the UK’s Guardian newspaper of the soon-to-open (June 19) Obama Presidential Center. Note that it is not called a library as with past such monuments. Likely it houses no books.
First, the caption the Guardian put under the photo:
Towering over a low-income area of Chicago, and wrapped in a speech that’s hard to decipher, this controversial monolith feels like a menacing sci-fi HQ. Is it a monument – or a mausoleum?
It cost just under $1B to build, by the way, showing that money does not buy beauty.
Also, if you visit it, at $US30 per admission, you can buy your very own replica in the gift shop:
I’m dying to know what one of those things costs, but could not find out.
The website for it is live, and yes, there are plenty of ‘Donate’ buttons to be found there.
I end with the Guardian’s very British take on all of this.
Lacking a royal family or a state religion, the US presidency has swelled to fill the void, transforming over the decades into a national personality cult, complete with its own secular temples to these powerful men.