New Citadel
a Project by
David Sanchez Burr
About
New Citadel is designed as a project that enables viewers to take part in the cacophonous movements of urbanism and to embrace individuality within the multitudinal effort. The installation permits visitors to build a model city based on ideas of what could be constructive and useful within their own personal urbanist experience. Architectural model making materials are provided and instructions are given on basic architectural design. The citadel starts to populate itself with the creations of its visitors, each one adding a new element to the project. Each construction is a manifestation of the individual working in a larger group, while discussions on urbanism and democratic process are encouraged. Participants are asked “ How effective is their participation and what benefits could there be to a more open process of determining the change around us?”.
Participation
This project is an extension of past efforts to convey ideas of generation and decay of the complex systems and structures that surround us. Like Gustave Metzger’s work it is dependent on the idea that creation and destruction are a unified action. Human and natural intervention upon our landscapes are often at odds with the social, architectural, biological and economical systems that exist or are created to support us. While natural systems are based on patterns, global warming studies suggests that we can expect that uncertainty will be a prevalent factor in forecasts and climactic conditions. Human systems are often adapted to comply to global economic values. These values imply that secondary or tertiary needs are not important in a financial sense therefore unimportant in a general sense. This project emulates a constant re-constuctivism induced by perpetual states of maintenance and decay, the perpetual confrontation of the demands of human and natural systems in relation to their purpose, usefulness and expiration. The solution suggested in the work to the rapidly declining resources, and in many ways to the problems arising from the lack of equitable distribution of these resources, is the embracing and the advancement of an infinitely more modern democratic approach to changing the landscape.
Cacophony
New Citadel constructivist efforts are a small element of participation. Through devices and control panels available to visitors change and reorganizing is produced in the city through sound. This component of the participatory and interactive experienced is accomplished through kinetic forces brought about by the power of sonic frequencies. The result of the sonic intervention is a constantly changing city that is perpetually being re-evaluated and rebuilt by its participants, placing the process of system creation and regeneration in the hands of anyone willing rather than anyone with influence. The project in its final stage addresses retirement, archiving and documentation of the changing platforms, interventions and history of New Citadel. This stage of the process as it is for any organized effort is a stage of reflexion and evaluation of the project itself. Often the documentation stands alone as the aestheticised remnant of what was accomplished in the collaboration.
Documents and Recordings
While Citadel is being built by visitors the project is being documented exhaustively through audio, video and photography. These documents and recordings chronicle the visual and audible experiences within new citadel and are used as standalone works of visual art to be exhibited elsewhere.
Plans for New Citadel
The first version of New Citadel was completed at the P3 studios at the Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas with funding from the Art Production Fund from New York. Future iterations of the project will include larger and more numerous structures to create the citadel and include additional sound control systems speakers, and power amplifiers to create kinetic strength. This project can also be adapted to various exhibition and curatorial efforts and is scalable in many ways.
Exhibits
Recent exhibits and prototypes of new citadel were made at the Memphis Social, an Apex Art Franchise Exhibit in Memphis, Tennessee and at The P3 Studios at the Cosmopolitan Casino and Resort in Las Vegas.
Documents of New Citadel
Projects
Past (web development in progress)
Beauty is on the Inside too.
2007
Metasonic Series 2008-2010
ansurbana 1991-2001