Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture |
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Rafi Segal, Eyal Weizman
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Pages: 187 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 1859845495
Pub: Verso Books
Pub date: 2003-09-29
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 222079
Reader Reviews:
architecture and politics (6/6 people found this helpful)
During decades, while pretending to be mere “professionals”, Israeli architects collaborated massively with Israel’s expansionist agendas, and thus had a central role in the bleeding territorial conflict that divides Israelis and Palestinians.
By exposing the simple truth that architecture and planning cannot be dissociated from political power, and by revealing systematically Israeli architecture’s most basic condition (and most hidden secret) from the Thirties to our days, this book has succeeded to jam a whole profession: in Israel it no longer possible to be an architect without taking into consideration the political dimension of any “architectural” choice or dilemma.
Therefore, the true lesson of this pioneering small book is not only about the evil banality of Israeli architecture, but also about the potential evil banality of any architecture. The debate inaugurated in “A Civilian Occupation” should serve us as a reminder that the idiosyncratic and narcissistic approaches that characterize a great deal of the contemporary architectural discourse, either through its spectacular expressions (Liebeskind, Gehry), through its pro-capitalistic ideologies (Koolhaas) or through its pseudo-avant-garde strategies (Tschumi, Eisenman), are today a luxury that very few can afford. The acute test case of Israeli architecture displayed in this important book is only one more proof that sometimes architecture can kill.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Art, Architecture & Photography -> Architecture -> Planning
Books -> Subjects -> History -> Countries & Regions -> Asia -> Middle East -> Arabian Peninsula
Books -> Subjects -> History -> General
Books -> Subjects -> Society, Politics & Philosophy -> Academic Sociology