<html><head><title>Re: [KS] Pyongyang city features and plans</title>
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<span style=" font-family:'Arial'; font-size: 12pt;">The Fine Arts Gallery is open, by the way. Was there last week.<br>
Cheers,<br>
Rudiger Frank<br>
<br>
<br>
on Samstag, 15. September 2012 at 23:50 you wrote:<br>
<br>
<span style=" color: #800000;"><b>> Just a note about the two-volume architecture guide of P'yŏngyang that<br>
> Professor Clark introduced--it is available in German and English (same<br>
> publisher):<br>
<br>
> I accidentally stumbled over that a few months ago, and it was a <br>
> refreshing read. To me this is one of the few examples where--not too <br>
> sure how to best phrase that ... where the lack of a background in <br>
> "Korean Studies" per se was all for the benefit of the work. The many <br>
> references made about North Korean architecture in the various works on<br>
> North Korea, anything really from histories and general guides to <br>
> political studies, are often nonchanlantly dismissing all post-North <br>
> Korean War architecture as Stalinist, totalitarian, or otherwise <br>
> nothing but a pure reflection of North Korea's one man regime. The <br>
> one-to-one equation of political system and built or planned <br>
> architecture, however, is nothing but an outdated myth that had been a<br>
> helpful tool for manipulation during the Cold War era in dealing with <br>
> the fascist past in Europe and the then present Communist states. It's<br>
> truly time to move on: architects could never do much with such <br>
> constructs in the first place, and it were very rarely architects <br>
> themselves making such statements or believing in them. The mentioned <br>
> book (or better, the volume with essays) does certainly not provide any<br>
> sort of theoretical discussion in dealing with this dilemma--the <br>
> dilimma of a widely accepted but diluted basic concept that stops us <br>
> from better understanding and describing the country's architecture, <br>
> where on the world map to put North Korea's and other socialist state's<br>
> architectural production. But the book simply is valuable because <br>
> it--as an intended or unintended "countermeasure"--ignores most of the<br>
> general wisdoms on totalitarian architecture, strange North Korean <br>
> politics, etc., and just deals with architecture in the framework of <br>
> international movements (as architects usually do). In that very sense<br>
> I am happy such a work, however short, is now out there.<br>
<br>
> Best regards,<br>
> Frank <br>
<br>
<br>
> On Sat, 15 Sep 2012 14:53:52 -0500, Donald Clark wrote:<br>
<span style=" color: #800080;">>> Regarding Pyongyang architecture (and I hope I didn't miss earlier<br>
>> posts where this might have been discussed already), I recently<br>
>> stumbled on a two-volume set entitled "Architectural and Cultural<br>
>> Guide: Pyongyang" edited by Philipp Meuser and published by DOM<br>
>> Publishers, available for less than 40 bucks from Amazon. The first<br>
>> volume is basically a translated and updated version of a good North<br>
>> Korean city guide. The second volume is a marvelous collection of<br>
>> essays and interpretations placing Pyongyang in the context of world<br>
>> architectural history, presenting it as the fulfillment of visions by<br>
>> the great planners of the twentieth century. Both volumes are<br>
>> wonderfully illustrated with color photographs.<br>
>> Like others I am grateful to Chris Springer for his works on the<br>
>> reconstructed city. This collection illuminates some of the same<br>
>> things, going farther in discussions about interesting (and sometimes<br>
>> appalling) features of the city: the great boulevards and districts<br>
>> with their Potemkin apartments, the state monuments and gargantua, the<br>
>> historic sites, athletic facilities, public spaces, palaces, and not<br>
>> least the Ryugyong Hotel from concept to partial completion. Mention<br>
>> is made of the MAK museum exhibit in Vienna and controversies<br>
>> surrounding it, among many other familiar topics. The essays in Vol 2<br>
>> are especially rich reading for anyone who has had a quick visit or<br>
>> two to Pyongyang and didn't get to see absolutely everything or the<br>
>> grand designs that are expressed in the architecture.<br>
>> Don<br>
<br>
>> -- <br>
>> Donald N. Clark, Ph.D.<br>
>> Murchison Professor of History and<br>
>> Co-director of East Asian Studies at Trinity (EAST)<br>
>> Trinity University, One Trinity Place, San Antonio, TX 78212 USA<br>
>> +1 (210) 999-7629; Fax +1 (210) 999-8334<br>
</span></b></span></span><a style=" font-family:'arial'; font-size: 12pt;" href="http://www.trinity.edu/departments/history/html/faculty/donald_clark.htm">>> http://www.trinity.edu/departments/history/html/faculty/donald_clark.htm</a><br>
<br>
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<span style=" font-family:'arial'; font-size: 12pt; color: #800000;"><b>> --------------------------------------<br>
> Frank Hoffmann<br>
</b></span><a style=" font-family:'arial'; font-size: 12pt;" href="http://koreaweb.ws">> http://koreaweb.ws</a><br>
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