Roberto Rovira
Submission 0175
Revolution in the Square
Inside is outside is inside. Landscape has a way of inverting notions of space
if only because of its inseparable relationship with time. We cannot coax
flowers into bloom no matter how talented our skills as artists, architects,
gardeners or performers.
Revolution in the Square, however, takes the changeability of the landscape
and the urban fabric and literally inverts it, like the centuries old tradition
of the rotating stages of Kabuki theater, where a performance can be many,
almost all at once. Over the repeating cycle of 12 hours, the BCA plaza inverts
itself from an orderly allée of trees, into forms that shift our trajectory
as busy pedestrians, pointing us into the treasures of the BCA while concurrently
inverting the now bygone panoramic wonder fo the Cyclorama.
The space becomes a more private one, shielded by trees, only to later become
the active outdoor stage for planned or unplanned gatherings. The workings
of the space are broadcast as well, on the ground and via tall beacons, and
through the delicately articulated canopies that borrow from the Cyclorama’s
tectonics, but do so in a light and unobtrusive way—giving shade and
shelter, to while hours away, waiting for the next performance.
