What If Metropolis

Online Greenlight Review 1

Emily Friswell
1st November 2017
Joan Mir
He was a Spanish painter, sculptor and ceramicist
Born: 20 April 1893 in Barcelona, Spain
Died: 25 December 1983 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain

During his 90 years he made at least 2,000 oil paintings, 500 sculptures, 400 ceramic objects,
and 5,000 drawings and collages.
Using lithography, etching and other graphic techniques he created about 3,500 images,
which were mostly published in editions of fifty to seventy-five they all contained
something of Mirs Catalan home.

Full Research on Joan Mir at

https://emilyfriswell.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/research-on-joan-miro.html
 Travelogue
When you first come across Estrella you are greeted by a sea of mismatched buildings that blend together as one with
their bright colours and stylised patterns. The city looks busy, although not with people but rather the busyness of the
architecture stands out to you, even from afar.
As you get closer, you will come across farmland, run by the working-class people of Estrella, who lead a simple life of
producing fresh produce for the inhabitants of Estrella. The farms hold great expanses of land as well as modest buildings
that look quite organic in shape, which hold everything from livestock to equipment. The farmhouses look quaint against
the city backdrop, and they too have an organic quality about them, which makes them look quite inviting. It is possible
that the landscape surrounding the outskirts of Estrella could remind the traveller of Catalonia, due to its sloping hills and
calm atmosphere.
As you venture further into the city you will come across Estrellas suburbs. Rows and rows of mismatched houses stretch
into the distance, all unique in their distorted shapes and abstract colour patterns. Estrellas houses are unique in their
structures; made up of geometric and angular lines, no two look the same. They are painted in varying bright colours that
make them look almost like the children that live there have been allowed to paint their houses however they wish.
Standing on one of the many streets of Estrella, looking up at the houses, you can see the oddly distorted windows that
seem to be randomly placed upon the walls of the house, and through said windows you can also make out the
surprising simplicity of their interior spaces within their homes.
As you continue down the street, you will notice that some of the houses have their lower floors converted into shops.
These shops are seen to be selling produce from the farms that sit on the outskirts of Estrella. These areas seem to be the
busiest parts of the street with people milling around with their wooden baskets picking up everything from raw meats to
fresh fruit and vegetables. From outside the shops you can see children playing and can hear friendly chatter from inside
between neighbours and old friends as they come together in this part of the city. The shopkeepers must live upstairs as
you can see that the shop is only across one floor, and additionally the name of each shop suggests they are family run
businesses as they seem to be named after the familys surname.
Leaving the suburbs behind you, the space seems to open up again occupied only by roads that one would assume lead
to the heart of Estrella. The roads seem to be quite quiet, although there are a few cars and also people carriers- which
you could only assume is their version of public transport. However, most inhabitants of Estrella seem to walk everywhere
as they seem to enjoy the ease of only relying on their own bodies to take them where they need to go.
As you walk towards the centre of Estrella, you start to leave the houses behind you and are next greeted by a sort of
small entertainment sector, although this particular area seems to be mostly forgotten about as it looks extremely old-
fashioned and unkept. The buildings look like muted, older versions of Estrellas houses seen in the suburbs. The
buildings still have their characterful geometric and angular shapes, but you can see that these buildings are far less
cared for as they have been painted in a far more rushed and unruly way, as well as looking like they havent been
cleaned or redecorated in a good few years. Most of the buildings in this part of the city, look vaguely familiar as types
of casinos or clubs, although they look as if they have seen years of slow decline. One building however that looks in
far better shape than the others is the theatre. It is the only area in the entertainment sector that seems to have any
sign of life, as you can see people milling around inside as well as outside where there are adverts displaying which
shows are on, which seems to range from films to live stage shows.
Past the theatre you reach the real centre of Estrella. The main focus is the religious temple of Estrella known to the
locals as The Constellation. Surrounding The Constellation there are bronze sculptures of unidentifiable figures, which
one might assume are Estrellian gods. The temple is called The Constellation because of the religious ideas that the
people of Estrella hold. Their religion revolves around the idea that the Sun, the Moon and the Stars are sacred things
that should be worshipped and these things all come together in The Constellation. The actual building is very vast and
has bright coloured abstract patterns on its outer walls, much like their houses, although the patterns are murals of
ceramic tiles which join together to cover the whole of the building, which gives it a sense of further refinement and
sophistication which gives the impression that this building is very well respected and looked after. It would be
blasphemous, however to enter The Constellation as a newcomer as it is where the people of Estrella go to worship the
sacred Sun, Moon and Stars, and so to enter as an outsider who has no connection to this specific religion would be
seen as highly offensive.
As you walk on, past The Constellation, the space opens up again to further abandoned buildings belonging to the
entertainment sector. Beyond that, the familiar Estrellian suburbs spread across the width of the city which sits in front
of the farmland that is only just recognisable in the distance. And so, it becomes clear that Estrella is built in a sort of
circular layout with distinctive districts occupying the different layers. The outer district, which holds the farmland and
the suburbs, is connected to the inner district, which holds the forgotten entertainment sector and The Constellation,
by a series of roads which Estrellas inhabitants use to travel between the two districts.
As the sun starts to set on the city of Estrella, it is the liveliest you will see it for it is the time when the inhabitants come
together at The Constellation to worship. The time of day when the sun is setting is highly sacred for them because it is
when the Sun, Moon and Stars are most in sync and interlaced.
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