Page 176 - Únete. Join us (Bienal de Venecia, 57 edición)

176 ¡ÚNETE! JOIN US! JORDI COLOMER
peristyle in its entirety. Over the architrave there rises the tympanum that harbours the birth of Athena. The acroteria are identical at every point. Even the optical correction has been replicated. There’s a concern for the right detail. At any rate, this Parthenon is much better preserved than its model in Athens; it’s quasi-intact, like a manufactured replica right out of a factory. It’s barely a century old, as we learn from an information panel in three languages that recounts how it was built, its history and its function – all of it peppered with amusing anecdotes meant to create a kind of chumminess with the tourists.
What is the source of the strangeness this sight makes us feel? It’s not simply about a fragment of ancient history’s imaginary translocation to the heart of America; it’s rather about the life- size reproduction of a whole building ne varietur. A question comes to mind: Are there doubles in architecture? Imitations are well known; here and there one finds “after-the-manner-of” experiments, or a building’s style being replicated across countries, or Palladio’s or Bernini’s influence throughout Europe and beyond. But perfect copies? In a certain sense, the uniqueness of buildings far exceeds that of works from any other artistic field – whether they be paintings, sculptures, or musical scores –, which makes it difficult for them to be replicated exactly as they stand. The anchoring to the ground, the imposing prospect, and social usage render an architectural work less amenable to replication and replacement by a doppelganger. The copy would be spotted and its effect would be nullified. No substitutability is possible. It’s not the singularity of the creative moment that endows a building with this remarkable individuality, but location itself. A building always implicates the space it occupies and interacts with. A perfect copy would therefore require an exact replication of its geographical coordinates, which is obviously impossible. It’s true that a building never quite remains identical to itself: its form and contents do evolve over time. Deterioration may of course lead to partial repairs that may end up amounting to a complete overhaul. As with Theseus’ ship, it may be the case that none of the original components actually remain in place in the end, the building having strangely become its own replica through its multiple restorations over the years. However, whereas a painting or a sculpture possess an irreplaceable uniqueness (which generates what Benjamin called their aura, the sacred halo that keeps spectators – and their Gemüt – at a distance), thereby encouraging a parallel market for copies, which may even entice malicious or brilliant substitutions – which are, after all, absolutely legal in museums where, for reasons of security or preservation, copies must pass off as originals – architecture by contrast is almost completely exempt from counterfeit works. This doesn’t mean it’s not reproducible per se. There is no technical obstacle. The problem is that no copy, however perfect it might be, could ever guarantee the uncanny role of the substitute. It’s therefore architecture’s situationality in itself – site, construction history, the public’s attendance, etc. – that prevents copies much more efficiently than any authenticity test devised against attempts at forgery. Thus, replicas cannot be made for purposes of preservation, nor can copies be made for exchange. This doesn’t mean, however, that in architecture the phenomenon of mimesis is unknown – on the contrary, architecture is actually much more subjected to it than any other art, as though its non-reproducible nature entailed a proliferation of imitations of all kinds.
Pastiche usually consists in borrowing a model’s style or some of its elements, yet this does not necessarily involve a complete copy of the original. A disparaging moral judgement is often attached to this artistic technique. The pastiche-mixers are believed to be incapable of producing