We Don't Need Any More Buildings
A Manifesto for Parasitical Practices by Richard Ingersoll I would like to begin with a picture of an artistic installation, the shrouding of the historic gateway of Porta Venezia, created for Design Week in April 2019 by the Ibrim Mahata from Ghana. It is a fine example of parasitical practice, the material coming from gunny sacks used to import raw materials from the artist’s country of origin, which in these times of controversy over new arrivals from Africa, introduces a profound challenge: “you want stuff from Africa, the people come with it.” It was a temporary statement, fitting symbiotically onto the historic structure, while changing the meaning of that structure. Although it is impossible to prove, it seems obvious that in the period since the end of World War II more buildings have been produced than during all of the 7 millennia of human construction activity that preceded it. This unprecedented building boom has accompanied an exponential population increase, from 2 bill...
