#419 - ARCHITECTURE VS ART, ARE THEY DIFFERENT?
SUMMARY
This week David and Marina of FAME Architecture & Design discuss the topic of Art vs Architecture. They covered the similarities and differences between artists and architects; creative freedom; mediums and materials; provocative vs practicality; public perception; time pressure; pay and value; control over outcomes; the life cycle of art and architecture; is architecture art; the definition of success; and more. Enjoy!
TIMESTAMPS
(00:51) Artists have more creative freedom.
“Architecture is more about synthesizing one's natural tendencies and interests with the ingredients that come with the project. So, I think architecture is interesting because you have this mash-up of different things that the architect has to wrestle with, and the outcome is a hybrid baby of these factors. In contrast, it's much purer for the traditional artist, who has a set of questions, interests, and philosophies and then they express their ideas through whatever medium is most appropriate for them and the topic being explored.” (03:00)
“The process to get to the outcome is much freer for an artist than for an architect because the architectural process is somewhat standardized. We have to use certain units, tools, and graphic representations that work across every office in the same country. We have to use certain languages to express ourselves toward the final results. Meanwhile, an artist could decide to have a completely different process for every piece of art that they're creating. That's because most artists work individually, and do not have to comply with a set of rules for their creative thoughts to be understood by others.” (05:16)
(11:18) Mediums and materials.
(22:46) Provocative vs practical outcomes.
“The fundamental difference between art and architecture is that artists exist to poke at society and ask questions. What they produce only exists to do that [and usually] doesn't offer practical solutions. Architecture is strange because we should be asking big societal questions, but at the same time, we need to propose something that will be practical. It doesn't just exist as a big question statement. It has to perform and provide something useful. Often the questions we ask are related to what we're proposing and with that comes a lot of constraints. Architecture cannot be quite as punchy. It can’t be in your face.” (24:26)
(32:08) Public perception of architect vs artist.
(38:33) Architect vs Artist time pressure.
(44:37) Architect vs Artist pay and value.
(50:50) People involved & control over outcome.
“A big difference [between artists and architects] is how we can express ourselves as creatives and how much control we have over the entire process. We have less control over the outcome compared to an artist. Suppose an artist is doing a large-scale installation, they’ll have control over most parts of the project. Although architects also have a lot of control, it's usually not to the degree of an artist because we work with people from many different trades. It's just a long, convoluted, complicated thing.” (53:14)
(55:12) Life of architecture vs art.
“Architecture and art live in the opposite direction. There is a very defined understanding of the artwork’s life and it's mostly just being preserved as a pristine, perfect thing. Whereas with architecture, when the building is done, it's not finished because it will be used, morphed, remodeled, and changed or degraded over time. It changes because it has a life of its own. It moves with time.” (55:33)
(58:54) Is architecture art?
(01:05:18) Definition of success for art and architecture.
(01:16:01) Summary - Similarities and differences between art and architecture.
