WEEKLY DISCUSSION 2.0 #7 - Werner Mantz

Disney is low culture or pop culture. Just my kind of beer and bratwurst artistry I have to admit. Fantasia animated classics film of 1940 had ostriches dancing ballet...and earned scorn for that, (We here love it!.)

 

Per recent American Masters TV special about Walt. He was passionately involved in design of the city of the future called EPCOT, near Orlando FL. I do not know how EPCOT worked out , but it looked to have some brash futuristic designs.

 

Now Anders, I sincerely hope our good late Weima,r anti -establishment creative photographer is not turning in his grave :-).. Really. We will in amends make him here a good eulogy.. Just kidding as I expect you are.. The Disney studio by the way after Walt made the company product different, less high minded if you accept the artistry of animators. I still think "Pinocchio" ...too long to illustrate, but Leonard Maltin could.. was and is a pop culture masterpiece.

 

I will not say sorry that I have drifted well off the photo of discussion topic because we are all loosening our ties lately.. Letting things flow where they may loosely unmoderated or moderated loosely. Casual Conversation, with no toxic talk....

 

Ok. Back to the photo of Fred's..Mark Zell's link above to the Pressa exhibiion in Cologne and the expo structures is worth some time to appraise and I am going back to that informative historical link with lots of photos. Fairs are landmarks for all. I missed the 1939 Worlds Fair but I was in a baby carriage. Some fair architecture survives. Golden Gate expo for instance, Any other examples out there?

<p>I knew nothing of Mantz before this OP and was struck by his exposure and tonality where building and sky are one. It adds an enigmatic tone to the image which, after Ander's information, may well have been intended by Mantz if he was looking to the German press to inform the public of the post WW1 dynamic in Germany, impoverished by the peace talks of Paris in 1919 and the demands upon the loser, and the distinctions between the parties vying for power. Does the incredible symmetry of building architecture and landscape speak to the desire for some utopia? It is very symmetric (apart from the structure look at the form and placement of trees), more so than much of the work of the contemporary Bauhaus before the Nazis closed it down in 1933. The symmetry I find hard to assimilate, beauty is rawer and less contrived than that for me - It is simply too much and uncharacteristic of a real world, crooked teeth, grey hair and all. Yes, much Rennaisance style also embraced symmetry as well, but there was always something in the mix (building, textures, surroundings) that provided relief from that.</p>

<p>Is it a utopia that Mantz wished to describe, or a desire as Anders suggests to show a press of balanced perspectives, or is it an enigma where building and sky are one and thus transformed and / or made non-existant, or just a less than conventional image of then modern architecture? If simply the latter, I would find it hard to see it with symbolic or interpretive values.</p>

<p>Do we know what the photographer thought (personal statements, interviews, critiques)?</p>

<p>Gerry, <a href="https://acdn.architizer.com/thumbnails-PRODUCTION/41/b7/41b73fa9900873a98924ccbfbf759080.jpg">HERE'S</a> an example of art deco architecture that probably has more of a Disney feel to it and certainly is presented in this photograph much more to make me think of Disney.</p>

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<p>Fairs are landmarks for all. I missed the 1939 Worlds Fair but I was in a baby carriage. Some fair architecture survives. Golden Gate expo for instance, Any other examples out there?</p>

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<p>One of the highlights of my childhood was the '64-'65 World's Fair (which was a couple of miles from where I lived in Queens, about 5 stops on the Flushing Line El).<br>

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Still standing are the <a href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-5/ny-worlds-fair-sphere-1965-nancie-johnson.jpg">UNISPHERE</a>, designed by Gilmore Clark and photographed by Nancie Johnson and the <a href="http://iyftc1oqf704bytwz45ub151.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/1964-New-York-Worlds-Fair-New-York-State-Pavilion-New-York-Untapped-Cities.jpg">NEW YORK STATE PAVILION</a>, designed by Philip Johnson and Lev Zetlin, stock photo.</p>

<p>And, one of my favorite pics of my mom, at the '39 World's Fair:</p>

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<p>I searched briefly for information on the fate of the Kolnische Zeitung building, and didn't find anything. I suspect that it was intended to serve during the exposition and may have been temporary. From what I can tell, the PRESSA exhibition grounds are still used for trade fairs and conventions, and the tower that dominated the site in 1928 still stands.<br>

<br />Some structures from past World Fairs or other expositions are still standing. I've been to the Eiffel Tower, the Museum of Science and Industry and the Art Institute in Chicago, and the Flight Cage in St. Louis.</p>

 

<p>Mark is probably right that the building may have only been temporary. Such is the case for most at EXPO 67, the world fair in Montreal. The French pavillion is still there as a casino and not far from the Formula 1 race track and the dome of American Buckminster Fuller still stands high in the skyline. I cannot remember whether Habitat, the intriguing multiple housing structure of architect Moishe Safdie (former professor at McGill) was associated with EXPO 67 or with the summer olympics in 1978, but it has lasted well, due no doubt to continuing habitation.</p>

We now have national heritage designation which means, I suppose, the buildings have to be maintained and up to code or as close as possible. So the Kolnische Zeiting had presses and the like and was taken down. Interesting. Repurposing a news publishing building must be difficult. And this was not a favored publication in coming years.

<p>Mark, if your German literacy permits you, you can find<a href="http://www.koelsch-akademie.de/index.php3?seite=683&p_id=293"> information</a> on the history of Rhein Park and the initiative of the Der Deutsche Werkbund (German Association of Craftmen) of creating an exposition (1907), which was opened 16 May 1914. A special exposition on the press (<em>internationale Ausstellung des gesamten Pressewesens</em>) which included the Kolnische Zeitung building and another for the Workers Press (<em>Haus der Arbeiterpresse) was opened in 1928. </em> Most of the buildings were put down by the end of the exposition and others by the end of the 1930s.</p>

<p>Anders, many thanks for the link.</p>