Puerto Rico Post-Montage
In the field of architecture and urban design, the photomontage, has become the essential medium for the visualization of un-built projects. Through photographic manipulation, the architect and urban designer can now create a visual narrative of the experience of the project before it is built.
This becomes a purely optimistic process, because through the depiction of burgeoning public spaces, smiling occupants and beautiful weather, the architect must convince his client that without a doubt, his project will be a success in its completion and it subsequent occupation.
Since our contemporary reality is more characterized by environmental degradation, constant warfare, and persistent social inequalities, we have decided not to be so optimistic. In our proposal we create a series of images that present iconic spaces in Puerto Rico after different catastrophic scenarios, to explore potential impacts on the urban context and the local population. In the process, events and people from different parts of the world are dislocated from their time and space, and are inserted and choreographed within our Caribbean context. These scenes are the product of juxtaposing different times, places and resolutions. Through Puerto Rico Post-Montage we reconsider the photomontage, to propose and document new instances within a hypothetical narrative of Puerto Rico that alludes to the absence of situations of crisis throughout the history of our island.
We hope this visual imposition of crisis acts as a catalyst for change and that it produces a genuine reflection about the problems faced by our nation and our planet. Taking this into consideration, we argue that design does not necessarily begin by providing the correct answers, but by provoking the right questions. How did we get to this point? Are we doing something to prevent this? Do we really understand the limits of our resources and our society? In the end, one question prevails: Could something that reflects the worst in us, also bring out the best in us? For their capacity to communicate that our humanity is revealed at moments of great adversity, these scenes become tools of awareness with the capacity to simultaneously frustrate and motivate.
Without further ado, we present Puerto Rico:….Without Gasoline (Sin Gasolina), …Over-populated (Sobrepoblado), …Ungovernable (Ingobernable), …In a Coup de Tat (En Golpe de Estado), …Looted (Saqueado), …Contaminated(Contaminado), …Evicted (Desahuciado), …Appropriated (Apropiado), …Infected (Infectado), …Flooded (Inundado)
The photomontage is typically used to provide a vision of the future for a place IF an Architectural or Urban intervention takes place. As I understand it, it’s a conventional advertising model. Drink COKE and you will enjoy a refreshing lifestyle. Build THIS and people will be running around in your parks. The interesting thing about your POST-montages is that they are not the result of a ‘thing’ or ‘product’ but actually they are a result of ‘events’. So your images are, in a way, a different model. There is no product being offered, there is no ‘thing’ being put in place. They are stipulations over what would happen if people suddenly were fed-up, for example. I WONDER if these collages could carry even more IMPACT if they were actually a result of THINGS. For example, what if a RIOT montage was caused by the placement of an un-wanted consulate in the city? Or what if the INFECTED montage was a result of the placement of a new CLINIC conducting dangerous bio-chemical research in PR? Clearly, these can all happen through an EVENT without the need to Architecturalize things… but well, in producing a visual campaign, MATERIALIZING the source of the situation makes the image more simple to understand as a process and not just a result, and therefore more effective. Otherwise, the source, say, of looting (which would clearly be a socio-political event) would be difficult to understand in a single image. Anyways, that’s my contribution. Saludos.