Junkspace

Author(s): Rem Koolhaas

Source: October, Vol. 100, Obsolescence (Spring, 2002), pp. 175-190
Published by: The MIT Press
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 Junkspace

REM KOOLHAAS

A World-Class
LoganAirport: fortheTwenty-first
Upgrade Century
-Late-TwentiethCenturyBillboard

Rabbit is the new beef... Because we abhor the utilitarian,we have con-
demned ourselvesto a lifelongimmersionin the arbitrary... LAX: welcoming-
possiblyflesh-eating-orchidsat the check-incounter... "Identity"is the newjunk
food for the dispossessed, globalization's fodder for the disenfranchised ... If
space-junkis the human debris thatlittersthe universe,Junk-Spaceis the residue
mankind leaves on the planet. The built (more about that later) product of
modernization is not modern architecture but Junkspace. Junkspace is what
remainsaftermodernizationhas run itscourse, or,more precisely, whatcoagulates
while modernization is in progress, its fallout. Modernization had a rational
program:to share the blessingsof science,universally. Junkspaceis its apotheosis,
or meltdown... Althoughits individualpartsare the outcome of brilliantinven-
tions, lucidlyplanned by human intelligence,boosted by infinitecomputation,
theirsum spells the end of Enlightenment,its resurrectionas farce,a low-grade
purgatory...Junkspace is the sum totalof our currentachievement;we have built
more than did all previousgenerationsput together,but somehowwe do not reg-
isteron the same scales. We do not leave pyramids.Accordingto a new gospel of
ugliness,there is alreadymoreJunkspaceunder constructionin the twenty-first
centurythan has survivedfromthe twentieth... It was a mistaketo inventmodern
architectureforthe twentiethcentury.Architecturedisappeared in the twentieth
century;we have been reading a footnoteunder a microscope hoping it would
turn into a novel; our concern for the masses has blinded us to People's
Architecture.Junkspaceseemsan aberration,but itis the essence,the main thing...
the productof an encounterbetweenescalatorand air-conditioning, conceivedin
an incubatorof Sheetrock(all threemissingfromthe historybooks). Continuityis
the essence ofJunkspace;it exploitsanyinventionthatenables expansion,deploys
the infrastructureof seamlessness:escalator,air-conditioning, fireshutter,
sprinkler,
hot-aircurtain...It is alwaysinterior,so extensivethatyou rarelyperceivelimits;it
promotes disorientation by any means (mirror, polish, echo) . . . Junkspace is

OCTOBER 100,Spring2002,pp. 175-190. ? 2002 RemKoolhaas.

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176 OCTOBER

sealed, held together not by structurebut by skin, like a bubble. Gravityhas

remained constant,resistedby the same arsenal since the beginningof time;but
air-conditioning-invisible medium,thereforeunnoticed-has trulyrevolutionized
architecture.Air-conditioning has launched the endless building. If architecture
separates buildings,air-conditioningunites them. Air-conditioninghas dictated
mutantregimesof organizationand coexistencethatleave architecturebehind. A
single shopping centeris now the workof generationsof space planners,repair-
men, and fixers,like in the Middle Ages; air-conditioningsustainsour cathedrals.
(All architectsmayunwittingly be workingon the same building,so farseparate,
but withhidden receptorsthat will eventuallymake it cohere.) Because it costs
money,is no longerfree,conditionedspace inevitablybecomes conditionalspace;
sooner or laterall conditionalspace turnsintoJunkspace... When we thinkabout
space, we have onlylooked at itscontainers.As ifspace itselfis invisible,all theory
forthe productionof space is based on an obsessivepreoccupationwithits oppo-
site: substance and objects, i.e., architecture.Architects could never explain
space; Junkspaceis our punishmentfortheirmystifications. O.K., let's talkabout
space then. The beauty of airports,especiallyaftereach upgrade. The lusterof
renovations.The subtletyof the shoppingcenter.Let's explore public space, dis-
cover casinos, spend time in theme parks ... Junkspace is the body double of
space, a territoryof impaired vision,limited expectation, reduced earnestness.
Junkspaceis a Bermuda Triangleof concepts,an abandoned petri dish: it cancels
distinctions,underminesresolve,confusesintentionwithrealization.It replaces
hierarchywithaccumulation,compositionwithaddition. More and more,more is
more. Junkspace is overripe and undernourishingat the same time, a colossal
securityblanketthatcoversthe earthin a strangleholdof seduction...Junkspace
is likebeing condemned to a perpetualJacuzziwithmillionsofyourbestfriends...
A fuzzyempireof blur,it fuseshigh and low,public and private,straightand bent,
bloated and starvedto offera seamlesspatchworkof the permanentlydisjointed.
Seeminglyan apotheosis,spatiallygrandiose,the effectof its richnessis a terminal
hollowness,a vicious parodyof ambitionthatsystematically erodes the credibility
of building,possiblyforever... Space was created by pilingmatteron top of mat-
ter,cemented to form a solid new whole. Junkspace is additive, layered, and
lightweight, not articulatedin different
partsbut subdivided,quarteredthe waya
carcass is tornapart-individual chunksseveredfroma universalcondition.There
are no walls,onlypartitions,shimmeringmembranesfrequentlycoveredin mirror
or gold. Structuregroans invisiblyunderneathdecoration,or worse,has become
ornamental; small, shiny,space frames support nominal loads, or huge beams
deliver cyclopic burdens to unsuspecting destinations . . . The arch, once the
workhorseof structures,has become the depleted emblem of "community," wel-
an
coming infinity of virtual
populations to nonexistent
theres.
Where it is absent,
it is simplyapplied-mostly in stucco-as ornamentalafterthought on hurriedly
erected superblocks.Junkspace's iconographyis 13 percent Roman, 8 percent
Bauhaus and 7 percentDisney (neck and neck), 3 percentArtNouveau, followed

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Junkspace 177

closely by Mayan ... Like a substance that could have condensed in any other
form,Junkspaceis a domain of feigned,simulatedorder,a kingdom of morph-
ing. Its specific configurationis as fortuitousas the geometryof a snowflake.
Patternsimplyrepetitionor ultimatelydecipherable rules;Junkspaceis beyond
measure, beyond code ... Because it cannot be grasped,Junkspace cannot be
remembered.It is flamboyantyetunmemorable,like a screen saver;its refusalto
freeze ensures instantamnesia.Junkspacedoes not pretendto create perfection,
only interest.Its geometriesare unimaginable,only makable. Although strictly
nonarchitectural,it tends to the vaulted,to the Dome. Some sectionsseem to be
devoted to utterinertness,others in perpetual rhetorical turmoil:the deadest
resides next to the most hysterical.Themes cast a pall of arresteddevelopment
over interiorsas big as the Pantheon, spawningstillbirthsin everycorner.The
aesthetic is Byzantine,gorgeous, and dark, splinteredinto thousands of shards,
all visible at the same time: a quasi-panoptical universe in which all contents
rearrangethemselvesin splitseconds around the dizzyeye of the beholder.Murals
used to show idols;Junkspace'smodules are dimensionedto carrybrands; myths
can be shared, brands husband aura at the mercyof focus groups. Brands in
Junkspaceperformthe same role as black holes in the universe:theyare essences
through which meaning disappears . . . The shiniest surfaces in the history of
mankindreflecthumanityat itsmostcasual. The morewe inhabitthe palatial,the
more we seem to dress down. A stringentdress code-last spasm of etiquette?-
governsaccess to Junkspace: shorts,sneakers, sandals, shell suit, fleece,jeans,
parka, backpack. As if the People suddenly accessed the private quarters of a
dictator,Junkspace is best enjoyed in a state of postrevolutionarygawking.
Polarities have merged-there is nothing left between desolation and frenzy.
Neon signifiesboth the old and the new; interiorsreferto the Stone and Space
Age at the same time. Like the deactivatedvirusin an inoculation,Modern archi-
tectureremainsessential,but onlyin its moststerilemanifestation, High Tech (it
seemed so dead only a decade ago!). It exposes what previousgenerationskept
under wraps:structuresemerge like springsfroma mattress;exit stairsdangle in
a didactic trapeze; probes thrustinto space to deliverlaboriouslywhat is in fact
omnipresent,free air; acres of glass hang fromspiderycables, tautlystretched
skinsenclose flaccidnonevents.Transparencyonlyrevealseverything in whichyou
cannot partake.At the strokeof midnightit all mayrevertto TaiwaneseGothic;in
three years it may segue into Nigerian Sixties, Norwegian Chalet, or default
Christian.Earthlingsnow live in a kindergartengrotesque.. .Junkspacethriveson
design, but design dies in Junkspace. There is no form,only proliferation...
Regurgitationis the new creativity;instead of creation,we honor, cherish,and
embrace manipulation . . . Superstrings of graphics, transplanted emblems of
franchise and sparklinginfrastructuresof light, LEDs, and video describe an
authorlessworldbeyond anyone's claim,alwaysunique, utterlyunpredictable,yet
intenselyfamiliar.Junkspaceis hot (or suddenlyarctic); fluorescentwalls,folded
like meltingstained glass, generate additional heat to raise the temperatureof

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178 OCTOBER

Junkspaceto levels at whichyou could cultivateorchids.Pretendinghistoriesleft

and right,its contents are dynamicyet stagnant, recycled or multiplied as in
cloning:formssearch forfunctionlike hermitcrabs lookingfora vacant shell ...
Junkspacesheds architectureslike a reptile sheds skins,is reborn everyMonday
morning.In previousbuilding,materialitywas based on a finalstate that could
onlybe modifiedat the expense of partialdestruction.At the exact momentthat
our culturehas abandoned repetitionand regularity as repressive,
buildingmaterials
have become more and more modular,unitary,and standardized;substancenow
comes predigitized . . . As the module becomes smaller and smaller,its status
become that of a crypto-pixel.With enormous difficulty-budget,argument,
negotiation, deformation-irregularityand uniqueness are constructed from
identicalelements.Instead of tryingto wrestorderfromchaos, the picturesqueis
nowwrestedfromthe homogenized,the singularliberatedfromthe standardized...
ArchitectsthoughtofJunkspacefirstand named it Megastructure,the finalsolu-
tion to transcendtheirhuge impasse.Like multipleBabels, huge superstructures
would last through eternity,teemingwith impermanentsubsystemsthat would
mutate over time,beyond theircontrol.In Junkspace,the tables are turned:it is
subsystemonly,withoutsuperstructure, orphaned particlesin search of a frame-
work or pattern. All materialization is provisional: cutting,bending, tearing,
coating: constructionhas acquired a new softness,like tailoring... The joint is no
longer a problem, an intellectual issue: transitionalmoments are defined by
stapling and taping, wrinklybrown bands barely maintain the illusion of an
unbroken surface; verbs unknown and unthinkable in architecturalhistory-
clamp, stick,fold,dump, glue, shoot, double, fuse-have become indispensable.
Each element performsits task in negotiated isolation.Where as detailingonce
suggestedthe coming together,possiblyforever,of disparatematerials,it is now a
transientcoupling,waitingto be undone, unscrewed,a temporaryembracewitha
high probabilityof separation;no longerthe orchestratedencounterof difference,
but the abruptend of a system,a stalemate.Only the blind,readingits faultlines
with their fingertips,will ever understandJunkspace'shistories. . . While whole
millenniaworkedin favorof permanence,axialities,relationships,and proportion,
the programofJunkspaceis escalation. Instead of development,it offersentropy.
Because it is endless, it alwaysleaks somewherein Junkspace;in the worstcase,
monumentalashtrayscatch intermittent drops in a graybroth...When did time
to in
stop movingforward,begin spool everydirection,like a tape spinningout of
control?Since the introductionof Real TimeTM?Change has been divorcedfrom
the idea of improvement.There is no progress; like a crab on LSD, culture
staggersendlesslysideways... The average contemporarylunch box is a micro-
cosm ofJunkspace:a ferventsemanticsof health-slabs of eggplant,topped by
thick layers of goat cheese-canceled by a colossal cookie at the bottom ...
Junkspaceis drainingand is drained in return.EverywhereinJunkspacethereare
seatingarrangements,rangesof modularchairs,even couches,as ifthe experience
Junkspaceoffersits consumersis significantly more exhaustingthan anyprevious

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Junkspace 179

spatial sensation; in its most abandoned stretches,you find buffets:utilitarian

tables draped in white or black sheets, perfunctoryassemblies of caffeineand
calories-cottage cheese, muffins,unripe grapes-notional representationsof
plenty,withouthorn and withoutplenty.Each Junkspaceis connected,sooner or
later,to bodily functions:wedged between stainless-steelpartitionssit rows of
groaningRomans,denim togasbunched around theirhuge sneakers... Because it
is so intenselyconsumed, Junkspace is fanaticallymaintained, the night shift
undoing the damage of the day shiftin an endless Sisyphean replay.As you
recoverfromJunkspace,Junkspacerecoversfromyou: between 2 and 5 A.M.,yet
anotherpopulation,thisone heartlessly casual and appreciablydarker,is mopping,
hovering,sweeping,toweling,resupplying...Junkspacedoes not inspireloyaltyin
its cleaners ...Dedicated to instantgratification, Junkspaceaccommodatesseeds
of futureperfection;a language of apology is woventhroughits textureof canned
euphoria; "pardon our appearance" signs or miniatureyellow"sorry"billboards
markongoing patches of wetness,announce momentarydiscomfortin returnfor
imminentshine, the allure of improvement.Somewhere,workerssink on their
knees to repairfaded sections,as ifin a prayer,or half-disappearin ceilingvoidsto
negotiateelusivemalfunctions,as ifin confession.All surfacesare archaeological,
superpositionsof different"periods" (what do you call the momenta particular
type of wall-to-wallcarpet was current?)-as you note when they're torn ...
Traditionally,typologyimplies demarcation,the definitionof a singularmodel
that excludes other arrangements.Junkspace representsa reverse typologyof
cumulative,approximativeidentity, less about kind than about quantity.But form-
lessness is still form,the formlessalso a typology. . . Take the dump, where
successive trucksdischarge their loads to form a heap, whole in spite of the
randomnessof its contentsand its fundamentalshapelessness,or thatof the tent-
envelope thatassumesdifferent shapes to accommodatevariableinteriorvolumes.
Or the vague crotchesof the new generation.Junkspacecan eitherbe absolutely
chaotic or frighteninglyaseptic-like a best-seller-overdetermined and
indeterminateat the same time.There is somethingstrangeabout ballrooms,for
instance:huge wastelandskeptcolumn-freeforultimateflexibility. Because you've
neverbeen invitedto thatkind of event,you have neverseen them in use; you've
onlyseen thembeing preparedwithchillingprecision:a relentlessgrid of circular
tables, extending toward a distant horizon, their diameters preempting
communication;a dais big enough forthe politburoof a totalitarianstate,wings
announcingas yetunimaginedsurprises-acres of organizationto supportfuture
drunkenness,disarray,and disorder.Or car shows.. .Junkspaceis oftendescribed
as a space of flows,but thatis a misnomer;flowsdepend on disciplinedmovement,
bodies that cohere. Junkspace is a web without a spider; although it is an
architectureof the masses,each trajectoryis strictlyunique. Its anarchyis one of
the last tangiblewaysin whichwe experience freedom.It is a space of collision,a
container of atoms, busy,not dense . . . There is a special way of moving in
Junkspace,at the same time aimless and purposeful.It is an acquired culture.

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180 OCTOBER

Junkspacefeaturesthe tyrannyof the oblivious: sometimesan entireJunkspace

comes unstuckthroughthe nonconformity of one of its members;a singlecitizen
of an another culture-a refugee,a mother-can destabilizean entireJunkspace,
hold it to a rustic'sransom,leaving an invisibleswathof obstructionin his/her
wake, a deregulationeventuallycommunicatedto its furthestextremities.Where
movementbecomes synchronized,it curdles: on escalators, near exits, parking
machines,automated tellers.Sometimes,under duress,individualsare channeled
in a flow,pushed througha single door or forced to negotiate the gap between
two temporaryobstacles (an invalid'sbleeping chariotand a Christmastree): the
manifestill will such narrowingprovokes mocks the notion of flows.Flows in
Junkspace lead to disaster: department stores at the beginning of sales; the
stampedes triggeredby warringcompartmentsof soccer fans;dead bodies piling
up in frontof the locked emergencydoors of a disco-evidence of the awkwardfit
between the portals ofJunkspaceand the narrowcalibrationsof the old world.
The younginstinctively avoid the Dante-esque manipulations/containers to which
Junkspacehas condemned theirelders in perpetuity. Withinthe meta-playground
ofJunkspaceexistsmallerplaygrounds, Junkspaceforchildren(usuallyin the least
desirable square footage): sections of sudden miniaturization-oftenunderneath
staircases,alwaysnear dead ends-and assemblies of underdimensionedplastic
structures-slides, seesaws, swings-shunned by their intended audience are
turnedinto aJunknicheforthe old, the lost, the forgotten,the insane ... the last
hiccup of humanism ... Trafficis Junkspace,fromairspace to the subway;the
entirehighwaysystemisJunkspace,a vastpotentialutopia clogged by its users,as
you notice when they'vefinallydisappeared on vacation... Like radioactivewaste,
Junkspace has an insidious half-life.Aging in Junkspace is nonexistentor cata-
strophic; sometimes an entireJunkspace-a departmentstore, a nightclub,a
bachelor pad-turns into a slum overnightwithoutwarning:wattagediminishes
imperceptibly,letters drop out of signs, air-conditioningunits startdripping,
cracksappear as iffromotherwiseunregisteredearthquakes;sections rot,are no
longer viable, but remainjoined to the flesh of the main body via gangrenous
passages. Judgingthe built presumed a static condition; now each architecture
embodies oppositeconditionssimultaneously: old and new,permanentand tempo-
rary, flourishing and at risk . . Sections undergo an Alzheimer's-like
deterioration as others are upgraded. Because Junkspace is endless, it is never
closed . . Renovation and restorationwere procedures that took place in your
absence; now you're a witness,a reluctantparticipant... Seeing Junkspace in
conversionis like inspectingan unmade bed, someone else's. Say an airportneeds
more space. In the past,new terminalswereadded, each more or less characteristic
of its own age, leaving the old ones as a readable record, evidence of progress.
Since passengers have definitivelydemonstratedtheir infinitemalleability,the
idea of rebuildingon the spot has gained currency.Travelatorsare throwninto
reverse,signs taped, potted palms (or verylarge corpses) covered in body bags.
Screens of taped Sheetrock segregate two populations: one wet, one dry,one

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Junkspace 181

hard, one flabby,one cold, one overheated.Half the population produces new
space; the more affluenthalf consumes old space. To accommodate a nether
world of manual labor, the concourse suddenly turnsinto Casbah: improvised
locker rooms, coffee breaks, smoking,even real campfires. . The ceiling is a
crumpledplate like the Alps; gridsof unstable tilesalternatewithmonogrammed
sheets of black plastic,improbablypuncturedby grids of crystalchandeliers...
Metal ducts are replaced by breathingtextiles.Gaping joints reveal vast ceiling
voids (formercanyonsof asbestos?),beams, ducting,rope, cable, insulation,fire-
proofing,string;tangled arrangementssuddenly exposed to daylight.Impure,
tortured,and complex, they exist only because they were never consciously
plotted.The flooris a patchwork:different textures-concrete,hairy,heavy,shiny,
plastic,metallic,muddy-alternaterandomly, as ifdedicatedto different species...
The ground is no more. There are too manyrawneeds to be realized on onlyone
plane. The absolutehorizontalhas been abandoned. Transparency has disappeared,
to be replaced by a dense crustof provisionaloccupation: kiosks,carts,strollers,
palms, fountains,bars, sofas,trolleys... Corridorsno longer simplylinkA to B,
but have become "destinations."Their tenant life tends to be short: the most
stagnantwindows,the mostperfunctory dresses,the mostimplausibleflowers.All
perspectiveis gone, as in a rainforest(itselfdisappearing,theykeep saying...). The
formerly straightis coiled into evermorecomplex configurations.Onlya perverse
modernist choreography can explain the twistsand turns, the ascents and
descents, the sudden reversals that comprise the typical path from check-in
(misleadingname) to the apron of the averagecontemporaryairport.Because we
never reconstructor question the absurdityof these enforced ddrives, we meekly
submit to grotesque journeys past perfume, asylum-seekers, building site,
underwear, oysters,pornography,cell phone-incredible adventures for the
brain, the eye, the nose, the tongue,the womb,the testicles... There was once a
polemic about the rightangle and the straightline; now the ninetiethdegree has
become one among many.In fact,remnantsof formergeometriescreateevernew
havoc, offeringforlornnodes of resistancethat create unstable eddies in newly
opportunisticflows... Who would dare claim responsibility forthissequence? The
idea that a professiononce dictated, or at least presumed to predict, people's
movementsnow seems laughable, or worse: unthinkable.Instead of design,there
is calculation:the more erraticthe path,eccentricthe loops, hidden the blueprint,
efficientthe exposure, the more inevitablethe transaction.In this war,graphic
designersare the greatturncoats:Where once signagepromisedto deliveryou to
where you wanted to be, it now obfuscates and entangles you in a thicketof
cuteness thatforcesyou past unwanteddetours,turnsyou back when you're lost.
Postmodernismadds a crumple-zoneof viral pochethat fracturesand multiplies
the endless frontlineof display,a peristalticshrink-wrap crucial to all commercial
exchange. Trajectories are launched as ramp, turn horizontal without any
warning,intersect, fold down, suddenlyemerge on a vertiginousbalconyabove a
large void. Fascism minus dictator.From the sudden dead end where you were

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182 OCTOBER

dropped bya monumental,granitestaircase,an escalatortakesyou to an invisible

destination, facing a provisional vista made of plaster,inspired by forgettable
sources. (There is no datum level; you always inhabit a sandwich. "Space" is
scooped out ofJunkspaceas froma soggyblockof ice creamthathas languishedtoo
long in the freezer:cylindrical,cone-shaped,more or less spherical,whatever... )
Toilet groups mutate into Disney Stores then morph to become meditation
centers: Successive transformations mock the.word "plan." The plan is a radar
screen where individual pulses survivefor unpredictable periods of time in a
Bacchanalian free-for-all... In this standoffbetween the redundant and the
inevitable,a plan would actuallymake mattersworse,would driveyou to instant
despair.Only the diagramgivesa bearable version.There is zero loyalty-and zero
tolerance-toward configuration, no "original"condition;architecturehas turned
intoa time-lapsesequence to reveala "permanentevolution."... The onlycertainty
is conversion-continuous-followed, in rare cases, by "restoration,"the process
thatclaimsevernewsectionsofhistoryas extensionsofJunkspace.Historycorrupts,
absolute historycorruptsabsolutely.Color and matterare eliminatedfromthese
bloodless grafts:the bland has become the onlymeetingground forthe old and
the new... Can the bland be amplified?The featurelessbe exaggerated?Through
height?Depth? Length? Variation?Repetition?Sometimes not overload but its
opposite, an absolute absence of detail, generatesJunkspace.A voided condition
of frighteningsparseness,shockingproof that so much can be organized by so
little. Laughable emptinessinfusesthe respectfuldistance or tentativeembrace
thatstarchitectsmaintainin the presence of the past,authenticor not. Invariably,
the primordial decision is to leave the original intact; the formerlyresidual is
declaredthe newessence,thefocusof theintervention. As a firststep,thesubstance
to be preserved is wrapped in a thick pack of commerce and catering-like a
reluctantskierpusheddownhillbyresponsibleminders.To showrespect,symmetries
are maintained and helplessly exaggerated; ancient building techniques are
resurrectedand honed to irrelevantshine, quarries reopened to excavate the
"same" stone, indiscreetdonor names chiseled prominentlyin the meekest of
typefaces;the courtyardcoveredby a masterful, structural"filigree"-emphatically
uncompetitive-so thatcontinuitymay be establishedwiththe "rest"ofJunkspace
(abandoned galleries, display slums,Jurassic concepts... ). Conditioning is
applied; filtereddaylightrevealsvast,antisepticexpansesof monumentalreticence
and makes them come alive, vibrantas a computer rendering... The curse of
public space: latent fascismsafelysmothered in signage, stools, sympathy...
Junkspaceis postexistential;it makesyou uncertainwhereyou are, obscureswhere
you go, undoes whereyou were. Who do you thinkyou are? Who do you want to
be? (Note to architects:You thought that you could ignore Junkspace,visitit
surreptitiously,treatit with condescending contemptor enjoy it vicariously...
because you could not understand it, you've thrownaway the keys... But now
your own architecture is infected, has become equally smooth, all-inclusive,
continuous,warped,busy,atrium-ridden...) JunkSignatureTM is the new architec-

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Junkspace 183

ture: the formermegalomania of a professioncontracted to manageable size,

Junkspaceminus its savingvulgarity. Anythingstretched-limousines,body parts,
planes-turns into Junkspace,its original concept abused. Restore, rearrange,
reassemble,revamp,renovate,revise,recover,redesign,return-the Parthenon
marbles-redo, respect, rent: verbs that start with re-produce Junkspace ...
Junkspace will be our tomb. Half of mankind pollutes to produce, the other
pollutes to consume.The combined pollutionof all ThirdWorldcars,motorbikes,
trucks,buses,sweatshopspales into insignificancecompared to the heat generated
byJunkspace.Junkspaceis political: It depends on the centralremovalof the crit-
ical facultyin the name of comfortand pleasure. Politicshas become manifestoby
Photoshop, seamless blueprintsof the mutuallyexclusive,arbitratedby opaque
NGOs. Comfortis the newJustice.Entireminiaturestatesnow adoptJunkspaceas
political program, establish regimes of engineered disorientation, instigate a
politics of systematicdisarray.Not exactly"anythinggoes"; in fact,the secret of
Junkspaceis thatit is both promiscuousand repressive:as the formlessproliferates,
the formalwithers,and withit all rules,regulations,recourse ... Babel has been
misunderstood.Language is not the problem,just the new frontierofJunkspace.
Mankind,tornbyeternaldilemmas,the impasseof seeminglyendless debates,has
launched a new language that straddles unbridgeable divides like a fragile
designer'sfootbridge... coined a proactivewave of new oxymoronsto suspend
former incompatibility: life/style,reality/TV,world/music, museum/store,
food/court, health/care, waiting/lounge.Naming has replaced class struggle,
sonorous amalgamationsof status,high-concept,and history.Through acronym,
unusual importation,suppressingletters,or fabricationof nonexistentplurals,
theyaim to shed meaning in returnfor a spacious new roominess... Junkspace
knowsall youremotions,all yourdesires.It is the interiorof Big Brother'sbelly.It
preempts people's sensations. It comes with a sound track,smell, captions; it
blatantlyproclaimshow it wants to be read: rich,stunning,cool, huge, abstract,
"minimal,"historical. It sponsors a collective of brooding consumers in surly
anticipation of their next spend, a mass of refractoryperiods caught in a
Thousand Year Reign of Razzmatazz, a paroxysmof prosperity.The subject is
strippedof privacyin returnfor access to a creditnirvana.You are complicitin
the tracingof the fingerprints each of your transactionsleaves; theyknowevery-
thing about you, except who you are. EmissariesofJunkspacepursue you in the
of
formerlyimperviousprivacy the bedroom: the minibar,privatefax machines,
pay-TVofferingcompromised pornography,freshplastic veils wrapping toilets
seats,courtesycondoms:miniatureprofitcenterscoexistwithyourbedside bible ...
Junkspacepretendsto unite, but it actuallysplinters.It createscommunitiesnot
out of shared interest or free association, but out of identical statistics and
unavoidable demographics,an opportunisticweave of vestedinterests.Each man,
woman, and child is individuallytargeted, tracked, split offfrom the rest...
Fragments come together at "security" only, where a grid of video screens
disappointinglyreassemblesindividualframesinto a banalized, utilitariancubism

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184 OCTOBER

that revealsJunkspace's overall coherence to the dispassionate glare of barely

trainedguards:video-ethnography in its bruteform.Justas Junkspaceis unstable,
its actual ownershipis foreverbeing passed on in parallel disloyalty. Junkspace
happens spontaneouslythroughnatural corporate exuberance-the unfettered
play of the market-or is generatedthroughthe combined actions of temporary
"czars" with long records of three-dimensionalphilanthropy, bureaucrats (often
former leftists) that optimistically sell off vast tracts of waterfront,former
hippodromes,militarybases and abandoned airfieldsto developersor real-estate
moguls who can accommodate any deficit in futuristicbalances, or through
Default PreservationTM(the maintenance of historical complexes that nobody
wants but that the Zeitgeisthas declared sacrosanct).As its scale mushrooms-
rivals and even exceeds that of the Public-its economy becomes more
inscrutable.Its financingis a deliberatehaze, clouding opaque deals, dubious tax
breaks,unusual incentives,exemptions,tenuous legalities,transferred air rights,
joined properties,special zoning districts,public-privatecomplicities.Funded by
bonds, lottery,subsidy,charity,grant:An erraticflowof yen, Euros, and dollars
createsfinancialenvelopes thatare as fragileas theircontents.Because of a struc-
tural shortfall,a fundamentaldeficit,a contingentbankruptcy, each square inch
becomes a grasping,needy surface dependent on covert or overt support, dis-
count, compensationand fund-raising. For culture,"engraveddonor bricks";for
everythingelse: cash, rentals, leases, franchises,the underpinning of brands.
Junkspaceexpands withthe economybut itsfootprintcannot contract-when it is
no longer needed, it thins. Because of its tenuous viability,Junkspace has to
swallowmore and more programto survive;soon, we willbe able to do anything
anywhere.We willhave conquered place. At the end ofJunkspace,the Universal?
Through Junkspace, old aura is transfusedwith new luster to spawn sudden
commercialviability:Barcelona amalgamatedwiththe Olympics,Bilbao withthe
Guggenheim,Forty-secondStreetwith Disney.God is dead, the author is dead,
historyis dead, only the architectis leftstanding.., .an insultingevolutionary
joke ... A shortage of mastershas not stopped a proliferationof masterpieces.
"Masterpiece"has become a definitivesanction,a semantic space that saves the
object fromcriticism,leaves its qualities unproven,its performanceuntested,its
motivesunquestioned. Masterpieceis no longeran inexplicablefluke,a roll of the
dice, but a consistent typology:its mission to intimidate,most of its exterior
surfacesbent,huge percentagesof itssquare footagedysfunctional, itscentrifugal
components barely held together by the pull of the atrium, dreading the
imminentarrivalof forensicaccounting... The more indeterminatethe city,the
more specificitsJunkspace;all ofJunkspace'sprototypesare urban-the Roman
Forum,the Metropolis;it is onlytheirreversesynergythatmakes themsuburban,
simultaneously swollenand shrunk.Junkspacereduceswhatis urban to urbanity...
Instead of public life,Public SpaceTM:what remainsof the cityonce the unpre-
dictable has been removed . . . Space for "honoring," "sharing," "caring,"
and "healing"... civilityimposed byan overdoseof serif... In the third
"grieving,"

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Junkspace 185

Millennium, Junkspace will assume responsibilityfor pleasure and religion,

exposure and intimacy,public lifeand privacy.Inevitably,the death of God (and
the author) has spawnedorphaned space; Junkspaceis authorless,yetsurprisingly
authoritarian... At the momentof its greatestemancipation,humankindis sub-
jected to the most dictatorialscripts:fromthe pushyoration of the waiterto the
answeringgulags on the otherend of the telephone,the safetyinstructionson the
airplane, more and more insistentperfumes,mankindis browbeateninto submit-
ing to the most harshly engineered plotline ... The chosen theater of
megalomania-the dictatorial-is no longerpolitics,but entertainment.Through
Junkspace,entertainmentorganizes hermeticregimesof ultimateexclusion and
concentration: concentration gambling, concentration golf, concentration
convention,concentrationmovie, concentrationculture,concentrationholiday.
Entertainmentis likewatchinga once-hotplanet cool off;itsmajor inventionsare
ancient: the movingimage, the rollercoaster,recorded sound, cartoons,clowns,
dinosaurs, news, war. Except for celebrities-of which there is a dramatic
shortage-we have added nothing,just reconfigured.Corpotainmentis a galaxy
in contraction,forced to go throughthe motions by ruthlessCopernican laws.
The secretof corporateaestheticswas the powerof elimination,the celebrationof
the eradicationof excess: abstractionas camouflage,the searchfora
the efficient,
Corporate Sublime. On popular demand, organized beauty has become warm,
humanist,inclusivist,arbitrary,poetic, and unthreatening:water is pressurized
throughverysmall holes, thenforcedinto rigoroushoops; straightpalmsare bent
into grotesque poses, air is burdened with added oxygen-as if only forcing
malleable substancesinto the mostdrasticcontortionsmaintainscontrol,satisfies
the drive to get rid of surprise.Not canned laughter,but canned euphoria...
Color has disappeared to dampen the resultingcacophony,and is used only as
cue: relax, enjoy, be well, we're united in sedation . . . Why can't we tolerate
strongersensations?Dissonance? Awkwardness? Genius? Anarchy?... Junkspace
heals, or at least thatis the assumptionof manyhospitals.We thoughtthe hospital
was unique-a universethatidentifiedby its smell-but now thatwe are used to
universal conditioningwe recognize it was merelya prototype;all Junkspaceis
defined by its smell. Often heroic in size, planned with the last adrenaline of
modernism'sgrand inspiration,we have made them (too) human; life or death
decisions are taken in spaces that are relentlesslyfriendly,litteredwith fading
bouquets, emptycoffeecups, and yesterday'spapers. You used to face death in
appropriate cells; now your nearest are huddled together in atriums. A bold
datum line is establishedon everyverticalsurface,dividingthe infirmary in two:
above an endless humanistscrollof "color,"loved ones, children'ssunsets,signage,
and art.., .below a utilitarianzone for defacementand disinfectant,anticipated
collision, scratch, spill, and smudge ...Junkspace is space as vacation; there once
was a relationshipbetween leisure and work,a biblical dictate that divided our
weeks, organized public life. Now we workharder,marooned in a never-ending
casual Friday... The officeis the nextfrontierofJunkspace.Since you can workat

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186 OCTOBER

home, the officeaspiresto the domestic;because you stillneed a life,it simulates

the city.Junkspace featuresthe officeas the urban home, a meeting-boudoir:
desksbecome sculptures,the work-floor is litbyintimatedownlights.Monumental
partitions,kiosks,mini-Starbuckson interior plazas: a Post-ituniverse: "team
memory,""informationpersistence";futilehedges againstthe universalforgetting
of the unmemorable,the oxymoronas missionstatement.Witnesscorporateagit-
prop: the CEO's suite becomes "leadership collective,"wired to all the world's
other Junkspace, real or imagined. Espace becomes E-space. The twenty-first
centurywill bring "intelligent"Junkspace: on a big digital "dashboard": sales,
CNNNYSENASDAQC-SPAN,anythingthat goes up or down, fromgood to bad,
presented in real time like the automotive-theorycourse that complements
drivinglessons ... Globalizationturnslanguage intoJunkspace.We are stuckin a
speech-doldrums.The ubiquity of English is Pyrrhic:now that we all speak it,
nobody remembersits use. The collectivebastardizationof English is our most
impressiveachievement;we have broken its back with ignorance, accent, slang,
jargon, tourism,outsourcing,and multitasking... we can make it sayanythingwe
want,like a speech dummy... Through the retrofitting of language, thereare too
fewplausible words left;our most creativehypotheseswill never be formulated,
discoveries will remain unmade, concepts unlaunched, philosophies muffled,
nuances miscarried... We inhabitsumptuousPotemkinsuburbsof weasel termi-
nologies. Aberrantlinguisticecologies sustain virtualsubjects in their claim to
legitimacy, help them survive . . . Language is no longer used to explore, define,
express,or to confrontbut to fudge,blur,obfuscate,apologize, and comfort...
it stakesclaims,assignsvictimhood,preemptsdebate,admitsguilt,fostersconsen-
sus. Entire organizationsand/or professionsimpose a descent into the linguistic
equivalent of hell: condemned to a word-limbo,inmates wrestlewith words in
ever-descendingspirals of pleading, lying,bargaining,flattening.. . a Satanic
orchestrationof the meaningless... Intended for the interior,Junkspace can
easilyengulfa whole city.First,it escapes fromits containers-semantic orchids
that needed hothouse protectionemergingwithsurprisingrobustness-then the
outdoorsitselfis converted:the streetis paved more luxuriously,sheltersproliferate
carryingincreasingly dictatorial messages, trafficis calmed, crime eliminated.
Then Junkspace spreads like a forest fire in L.A. . . . The global progress of
Junkspacerepresentsa finalManifestDestiny:the Worldas public space ... All of
the resurrectedemblems and recycledambers of the formerlypublic need new
pastures. A new vegetal is corralled for its thematic efficiency.The outing of
Junkspace has triggered the professionalizationof denaturing, a benign eco-
fascismthatpositionsa rare survivingSiberian tigerin a forestof slot machines,
near Armani,amid a twistedarboreal Baroque ... Outside, between the casinos,
fountainsproject entireStalinistbuildingsof liquid, ejaculated in a split second,
hovering momentarily,then withdrawingwithan amnesiac competency... Air,
water,wood: All are enhanced to produce HyperecologyTM, a parallel Walden, a
new rainforest.Landscape has become Junkspace,foliage as spoilage: Trees are

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Junkspace 187

tortured,lawns cover human manipulations like thick pelts, or even toupees,

sprinklerswateraccording to mathematicaltimetables... Seeminglyat the oppo-
site end ofJunkspace,the golf course is, in fact,its conceptual double: empty,
serene, free of commercialdebris. The relativeevacuation of the golf course is
achieved by the furtherchargingofJunkspace.The methods of theirdesign and
realizationare similar:erasure,tabula rasa, reconfiguration.Junkspaceturnsinto
biojunk; ecology turns into ecospace. Ecology and economy have bonded in
Junkspace as ecolomy. The economy has become Faustian; hyperdevelopment
depends on artificialunderdevelopment; a huge global bureaucracy is in the
makingto settle,in a colossal yin/yang,the balance betweenJunkspaceand golf,
between the scraped and the 'scaped, trading the right to despoil for the
obligation to create steroidrainforestsin Costa Rica. Oxygenbanks,FortKnoxes
of chlorophyll,eco-reservesas a blank check for furtherpollution.Junkspaceis
rewritingthe apocalypse; we may die of oxygen poisoning... In the past, the
complexities of Junkspace were compensated for by the stark rawness of its
adjunct infrastructures:parking garages, fillingstations, distributioncenters
routinelydisplayinga monumentalpuritythatwas the originalaim of modernism.
Now, massive injections of lyricismhave enabled an infrastructure-the one
domain previouslyimmuneto design,taste,or the marketplace-to join the world
of Junkspace, and forJunkspace to extend its manifestationsunder the sky.
Railwaystations unfold like iron butterflies,airports glisten like cyclopic dew-
drops, bridges span oftennegligiblebanks like grotesquelyenlarged versionsof
the harp. To each rivuletits own Calatrava. (Sometimes when there is a strong
wind,this new generationof instrumentsshakes as if being played by a giant,or
maybe a God, and mankind shudders ... ) Junkspace can be airborne, bring
malaria to Sussex; 300 anopheline mosquitoesarriveeach day at GDG and GTW
withability,theoretically, to infecteight to twentylocals in a three-mileradius,a
hazard exacerbatedby the average passenger'sreluctance,in a misplaced gasp of
quasi-autonomy,to be disinfectedonce he or she has buckled up for the return
journey from the dead end of the tourist destination. Airports, provisional
accommodationforthose going elsewhere,inhabitedbyassembliesunitedonlyby
the imminence of their dissolution, have turned into consumption gulags,
democraticallydistributedacross the globe to give everycitizenan equal chance
of admission... MXP looks as ifall of the leftoversof East Germany'sreconstruc-
tion-whatever was needed to undo the deprivationsof Communism-have been
hurriedlybulldozed togetheraccordingto a vaguelyrectangularblueprintto form
a botched sequence of deformed,inadequate spaces (apparentlywilledinto being
bythe currentrulersof Europe, who extortlimitlessEuros fromthe community's
regional funds,causing endless delays for its duped taxpayerstoo busy on cell
phones to notice). DFW is composed of three elements only,repeated ad infini-
tum, nothing else: one kind of beam, one kind of brick, one kind of tile, all
coated in the same color-is it teal? Rust? Tobacco? With symmetriesscaled
beyond any possibilityof recognition,the endless curve of its terminalsforcesits

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188 OCTOBER

users to enact relativitytheoryin theirquest forthe gate. Its dropoffis the seem-
ingly harmless beginning of a journey to the heart of unmitigatednothingness,
beyond the animation providedbyPizza Hut, DairyQueen ... Valleycultureswere
thought to be the most resistanttoJunkspace:at GVZ you can stillsee a universe
of rules, order, hierarchy,neatness, coordination, poised moments before its
implosion,but at ZHR huge "timepieces"hoverin frontof interiorwaterfalls as an
in is
essay Regionaljunk.Duty-free Junkspace;Junkspace duty-freeis space. Where
culturewas thinnest,will it be the firstto run out? Is emptinesslocal? Do wide
open spaces demand wide open Junkspace? Sunbelt: huge populations where
there was nothing; PHX: warpainton everyterminal,dead Indian outlines on
everysurface-carpet, wallpaper,napkins-like frogsflattenedby car tires.Public
Artdistributedacross LAX: the fishthathave disappeared fromour riversreturn
as public artin the concourse; onlywhatis dead can be resurrected.Memoryitself
may have turned intoJunkspace;only those murderedwill be remembered...
Deprivation can be caused by overdose or shortage;both conditionshappen in
Junkspace (often at the same time). Minimumis the ultimateornament,a self-
righteouscrime,the contemporaryBaroque. It does not signifybeauty,but guilt.
Its demonstrativeearnestnessdriveswhole civilizationsinto the welcomingarms
of camp and kitsch.Ostensiblya relieffromconstantsensorial onslaught,mini-
mum is maximumin drag, a stealthlaundering of luxury:the stricterthe lines,
the more irresistiblethe seductions. Its role is not to approximatethe sublime,
but to minimizethe shame of consumption,drain embarrassment,to lowerwhat
is higher.The minimumnow existsin a state of parasitic codependency withthe
overdose: to have and not to have, cravingand owning,finallycollapsed in a sin-
gle signifier... Museums are sanctimoniousJunkspace;there is no sturdieraura
than holiness.To accommodatethe convertstheyhave attractedbydefault,muse-
ums massivelyturn "bad" space into "good" space; the more untreatedthe oak,
the largerthe profitcenter.Monasteriesinflatedto the scale of departmentstores:
expansion is the Third Millennium'sentropy,dilute or die. Dedicated to mostly
respectingthe dead, no cemeterywould dare to reshufflecorpses as casuallyin
the name of currentexpediency;curatorsplot hangingsand unexpected encoun-
ters in a donor-platelabyrinthwiththe finesseof the retailer:lingerie becomes
"Nude, Action, Body,"cosmetics"History,Memory,Society."All paintingsbased
on black grids are herded togetherin a singlewhiteroom. Large spidersin the
humongousconversionofferdelirium for the masses ... Narrativereflexesthat
have enabled us fromthe beginningof time to connect dots, fillin blanks,are
now turnedagainstus: we cannotstop noticing-no sequence is too absurd,trivial,
meaningless,insulting... Through our ancient evolutionaryequipment,our irre-
pressible attention span, we helplessly register, provide insight, squeeze
meaning, read intention;we cannot stop makingsense out of the utterlysense-
less... On its triumphalmarch as contentprovider,art extends far beyond the
museum's ever-increasingboundaries. Outside, in the real world,the "art plan-
ner" spreads Junkspace's fundamental incoherence by assigning defunct

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Junkspace 189

mythologiesto residualsurfacesand plottingthree-dimensionalworksin leftover

emptiness.Scouting forauthenticity, his or her touchseals thefateofwhatwasreal,
taps it for in
incorporation Junkspace.Artgalleriesmove en masse to "edgy"loca-
tions,then convertrawspace into whitecubes ... The onlylegitimatediscourseis
loss; art replenishesJunkspacein directproportionto its own morbidity. We used
to renewwhatwas depleted; now we tryto resurrectwhatis gone ... Outside, the
architect'sfootbridgeis rocked to the breakingpoint bya stampede of enthusias-
tic pedestrians; the designer's initial audacity now awaits the engineer's
application of dampers. Junkspace is a look-no-handsworld ... The constant
threatof virtualityin Junkspace is no longer exorcized by petrochemicalprod-
ucts,plastic,vinylor rubber;the syntheticcheapens.Junkspacehas to exaggerate
its claimsto the authentic.Junkspaceis like a womb thatorganizes the transition
of endless quantitiesof the Real-stone, trees,goods, daylight,people-into the
unreal. Entire mountains are dismembered to provide ever-greaterquantities
of authenticity, suspended on precariousbrackets,polished to a blindingstate of
flashthatrendersthe intended earnestnessinstantlyelusive.Stone onlycomes in
light yellow,flesh,a violent beige, a soaplike green, the colors of Communist
plasticsin the 1950s. Forestsare felled,theirwood all pale: maybethe originsof
Junkspace go back to the kindergarten ... ("Origins" is a mint shampoo that stings
the anal region.) Color in the real worldlooks increasingly unreal,drained. Color
in virtualspace is luminous,thereforeirresistible. A surfeitof reality-TVhas made
us into amateur guards monitoringa Junkuniverse... From the livelybreastsof
the classicalviolinistto the designerstubbleof the Big Brotheroutcast,the con-
textualpedophilia of the formerrevolutionary, the routineaddictionsof the stars,
the runnymakeup of the evangelist,the robotic body language of the conduc-
tor,the dubious benefitsof the fund-raising marathon,the futileexplanationsof
the politician: the swooping movementof the TV camera suspended fromits
boom-an eagle withoutbeak or claws,just an optical stomach-swallowsimages
and confessionsindiscriminately, like a trashbag, to propel themas cyber-vomit in
space. TV-studiosets-garishly monumental-are both the culminationand the
end of perspectivalspace as we've knownit: angulargeometricremnantsinvading
starryinfinities;real space edited forsmoothtransmissionin virtualspace, crucial
hinge in an infernalfeedbackloop ... the vastnessofJunkspaceextended to the
edges of the Big Bang. Because we spend our lifeindoors-like animalsin a zoo-
we are obsessed withthe weather:40 percent of all TV consistsof presentersof
lesser attractiveness gesturing helplessly in front of windswept formations,
through which you recognize, sometimes,your own destination/currentposi-
tion. Conceptually,each monitor,each TV screen is a substitutefora window;real
life is inside, while cyberspace has become the great outdoors . . . Mankind is
alwaysgoing on about architecture.Whatifspace startedlookingat mankind?Will
Junkspaceinvade the body?Through the vibes of the cell phone? Has it already?
Through Botox injections? Collagen? Silicone implants? Liposuction? Penis
enlargements?Does gene therapyannounce a total reengineeringaccording to

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190 OCTOBER

Junkspace?Is each of us a mini-construction site?Is mankindthe sum of threeto

fivebillionindividualupgrades?Is it a repertoireof reconfiguration
thatfacilitates
the intromissionof a new species into its self-madeJunksphere?The cosmeticis
the new cosmic ...

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