Page 47 - Studio International - May 1973

Spatio yore 196o
Part of the New Babylon Project
Lent by the artist to
The Hague Gemeentemuseum

reflects better than any other building the
atmosphere of the age that is dawning, of
automation and of non-working man, and hence
of the new nomad, homo ludens, playing man.
Was it not those who did not have to work for
their living who were regarded as the builders of
past cultures ? What we see today, at least in the
industrialized countries, is not so much an
`Umwertung der Werte', a reversal that allows
new values to emerge, but more a
democratization of culture. Homo ludens is no
longer a man in an exceptional social situation,
but any man. And his life-pattern will include
fluctuation, wandering over the face of the earth:
until now a pastime reserved for those who did
not work.
The new city will not be a settlement: it
will be the decor for this new life. And in that
sense the airport of today can be seen as the
anticipatory image of the city of tomorrow, the
city of man 'passing through'.
The airport is a city within the city, a city of
wanderers within the city of settled men. The
traveller must find everything he needs in the
preference; this has induced the authorities in a shops sell folk music from all over the world. airport, and above all, that which is conducive
city like Amsterdam to decree the hall of the On the other hand the tourists visiting less to social contact. His needs will change and
central station out of bounds for non-travellers. industrialized countries inevitably affect the expand. The use of the term homo ludens
Perhaps the lack of understanding of man's most original culture of those countries. anticipates the development of a non-working,
basic need — the need for social contact — will The tourist introduces a new atmosphere into leisure-oriented society. I have until now
eventually induce the authorities to rule the societies that had, until recently, a closed set of emphasized the adventure of travel, and
Schiphol area forbidden territory for anyone norms, thereby contributing to the downfall neglected its utilitarian aspect. The businessman
who is not leaving or arriving. But the airport is of those norms, and internationalization is taking is evidently in a different stituation from that of
becoming an international meeting place, a place on the basis of this mutual influence. In the tourist or student. I have deliberately
social space not only for travellers but also for `The Lonely Crowd' David Riesman attacks the stressed the 'joyriding' aspect of travel, because
citizens of all kinds, where everyone will sense neo-traditionalists who base their ideas about I believe it has not been given enough
that special atmosphere, that taste of nomadic the city on 'social' ideals, who want to shut consideration. In every trip, even the most hasty
life, for which we have been nostalgic ever since people up in communities where their social business trip, there is an element of adventure,
we turned to a sedentary way of life. relations must be concentrated in the and this element gains importance as man
Travelling has been until recently the neighbourhood, while they themselves — acquires more free time. Homo ludens is the
privilege of the elite. In the past it was according to Riesman — choose to eat a French master of his time, and his existence therefore
a costly undertaking, regarded as the crowning dish this day and an Italian one the next, read depends on the processes that reduce labour —
of a gentleman's education; travelling widens books in four languages and collect art from all processes that are fast developing. The free man
the horizon and expands the view, it was cultures. of the coming era will make different demands
rightly thought. The acculturation process was The central problem in city-planning is on his environment. Efficiency as far as material
unthinkable without travelling; isolated cultures thus transferred from the settlement. The provisions are concerned is of course a conditio
were, and are, doomed to die. Rabelais, neighbourhood as it has developed in today's sine qua non, but there will also emerge a need
Lawrence Sterne, Casanova and Jules Verne, garden cities no longer fits in with new needs for creative play. I have tried to represent the
conscious as they were of the deadliness of the and habits. Sedentary man is dying out; we are aeroplane as an important feature in the game of
constricting local norms, described travelling as becoming nomads once more, wandering over life, as a means for the art of living. I believe
a cultural experience. The importance of what the earth, not looking for rest but for dynamic that the aeroplane even now is regarded as such
we experience today should therefore not be motion. The traveller is regarded with envy by increasing numbers of people. And that is
underestimated: the acculturation of the masses and when he comes home he finds it difficult to why I have called the airport the anticipatory
is the consequence of mass travelling. reconcile himself to his old routine. Places of image of the city of tomorrow, the play-town
This acculturation process can be seen in the departure and arrival — especially airports — are of homo ludens, the decor for a new mass
interest in foreign languages and ways of life, or places of adventure and nostalgia. So the airport culture. q
in foreign food. One can dine in a Chinese, is not just a utility building for the efficient
Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Yugoslav or Greek entry and exit of passengers, but also a * `On Travelling' was read to the BNA (Society of
restaurant in Holland, it is as easy to get vokda, romantic decor for the potential nomad that we Dutch Architects) on the occasion of the opening
tequila, or slivovitch as the old Dutch drinks, all are — it offers an escape from the settlement. of the new Schiphol Airport buildings. It was
published in Dutch in Opstand vande Homo-Ludens.
people drink wine with their meals, record An airport, because of its opposite nature, (Revolt of Homo Ludens.)
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