Demolition Art

November 12, 2006 2:30 PM

Medianera is the spanish word for the wall that separates two buildings. When one of those buildings is knocked down, the remaining wall often carries impressions left behind by the now-demolished living space. Flickr pools: [1] [2].
posted by monju_bosatsu (28 comments total)

I find it interesting that the second flickr pool is titled "the Unconscious Art of Demolition." To my mind the decision to leave the walls like this must be an entirely conscious one. The demolition crew chose to leave those marks of the previous inhabitants instead of scrubbing the walls clean.
posted by jrb223 at 2:36 PM on November 12, 2006

Spanish law requires public urinals for jetpack-users.
posted by Arcaz Ino at 2:51 PM on November 12, 2006

I've seen this before. Is this a second post? Maybe it was on BoingBoing.
posted by Titania at 2:55 PM on November 12, 2006

Wow, that's really fascinating. I love the jetpack urinals.
posted by arcticwoman at 2:56 PM on November 12, 2006

Titania, I had the same feeling. Even the wording sounds very familiar. I need to search this...
posted by TonyRobots at 3:00 PM on November 12, 2006

Gordon Matta-Clark would approve.
posted by xod at 3:01 PM on November 12, 2006

Titania & TonyRobots, yes - this was on BoingBoing about a year ago, and was shortly thereafter posted here. I'm very very sure of it, but have no idea what search terms would reveal it...
posted by jonson at 3:05 PM on November 12, 2006

It was posted to BoingBoing, although I originally saw it on Pruned. I don't think it was ever posted here; I searched pretty hard for it.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:09 PM on November 12, 2006

The ones on the first link seem much more "real". The second link looks like it was intentionally left like that, with the exposed fixtures. But alas, I can't read Spanish.
posted by smackfu at 3:18 PM on November 12, 2006

magnificent. hoorah for [old] europe.
posted by Busithoth at 3:22 PM on November 12, 2006

reminds me of this film: the subconscious art of graffiti removal by matthew mccormick
posted by ism at 3:37 PM on November 12, 2006

This is so cool. Thanks, monju!
posted by frecklefaerie at 3:38 PM on November 12, 2006

My favorite scene in the 1976 animated feature "Allegro Non Troppo" takes place on one of these! It features a lonely cat crawling about a demolished ruin, and is set to a piece by Jean Sibelius.

Awesome, awesome movie - the poor man's Fantasia! If you like animation, do yourself a favor.
posted by Aquaman at 4:08 PM on November 12, 2006

Awesome. [this is good]
posted by dhruva at 4:36 PM on November 12, 2006

aye allegro man non troppo is fantastic ! This post is good as well, it gives a nostalgic life look to otherwise dead concrete.
posted by elpapacito at 4:38 PM on November 12, 2006

I love these photos. Another related genre is all the old building and road-side ads one still occasionally sees.
posted by notmtwain at 4:52 PM on November 12, 2006

“Son los despojos abiertos de la habitación del hombre, el mapa vertical de sus diferencias, la obscena muestra de lo que las paredes ocultan (duchas, papel pintado, manchas de grasa en la cabecera de un lecho).

“Las lluvias, la intemperie dulcifican los colores en una misma paleta pastel. Los azulejos resisten heróicamente, y sólo caen uno a uno.

“En fuerte competencia con los edificios que vendrán, las medianeras duran poco tiempo.”

"They are the open spoils of man's habitation, the vertical map of his differences, the obscene sample of what walls hide (showers, painted paper, grease stains on top of a bed).

Rain, exposure sweeten the colors into the same pastel palette. Wall tiles heroically resist, and only fall off one by one.

In strong competition with the forthcoming buildings, medianeras does not last long".

A real quick translation of the Spanish quote in Pruned (sorry if there are mistakes in the English, not my native language).
posted by beguemot at 4:57 PM on November 12, 2006

In the second link, any ideas on why the toilet on the left side of the second floor seems to be at around chest level?
posted by StrangerInAStrainedLand at 4:59 PM on November 12, 2006

Stranger, the second link is showing an art project. Your tax dollars at work...
posted by notmtwain at 5:23 PM on November 12, 2006

Except its in Barcelona...so its certainly not my tax dollars.
posted by vacapinta at 5:27 PM on November 12, 2006

Stranger, the second link is showing an art project. Your tax dollars at work...

Ah, I was worried there for a sec that international customs of toilet placement varied in some way as yet completely unknown to me.


Except its in Barcelona.
I would not be surprised one iota if this has happened, and been funded by the City of SF, although I think the color scheme would be somewhat more flashy.
posted by StrangerInAStrainedLand at 5:34 PM on November 12, 2006

Artists are doing creative work with porta-potties here in the good old USA. "Found Sound"

and Harper's had a great little article "Excretion"
posted by notmtwain at 5:41 PM on November 12, 2006

Cool stuff, monju_bosatsu.
The second link reminds me a bit of the defenstration building in SF.
posted by madamjujujive at 6:40 PM on November 12, 2006

Stranger, the second link is showing an art project. Your tax dollars at work...

Well, that would have been useful to mention.
posted by smackfu at 6:50 PM on November 12, 2006

Repeat or not, this is awesome. I haven't seen this before.
posted by loquacious at 7:46 PM on November 12, 2006

Fantastic. I can't help wondering now what my apartment would look like as a medianera impression.
posted by bookish at 7:59 PM on November 12, 2006

Awesome post, monju-bosatsu. The leftovers strike me as being kind of sad and ghost-like.
posted by deborah at 10:13 PM on November 12, 2006

I've seen these things hundreds of times all over Spain, but seeing many in sequence really recontextualizes them into something quite poetic.
posted by ob at 7:44 AM on November 13, 2006