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Architecture as performance art: evaluating “iconic power” in the development of two museums

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Abstract

Cities around the world have increasingly turned to iconic architectural development (IAD) to compete for tourists, investment and skilled migrants. However, IADs represent more than just an economic development tool, they are explicit attempts to create iconic representations of place. As such IADs provide an important opportunity to better understand how objects gain “iconic power”—defined as the fusion of powerful social meanings with the aesthetic surface of physical objects. Through a comparative study of two museum expansion projects, this article investigates how the production process influences the content and intensity of the meanings attributed to the buildings. Adopting a cultural pragmatics approach, I demonstrate that IADs constitute a social performance where the actions taken by developers to design, construct, and promote their buildings are interpreted by the outside public and inform the meanings attributed to the final buildings. In identifying the relationship between production and performance, this article extends our understanding of iconic power while also demonstrating how theories from the “Strong Program” in cultural sociology can be exported to advance the study of cities and urban development.

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Notes

  1. Nonetheless, elite architects, like artists, are promoted as singular geniuses, mystified by the “charismatic ideology of creation” (Bourdieu 1996).

  2. In his influential “regime theory,” Stone (1989) distinguishes the power to act, characteristic of the urban political arena, from the State’s power to command. In other words, elites in the urban political arena are distinguished by their ability to get things done (e.g., build a skyscraper, influence the route of a highway, etc.), rather than their ability to command a subject population.

  3. It should be noted that the museums had the means of symbolic production only to begin an expansion process by hiring an architect, holding fundraisers, and other initial steps. In order to build their actual expansions, they would need to ensure that their expansion plans appealed to certain influential audiences—most notably the governments of Ontario and Canada, which had existing funding programs with various sets of conditions, criteria, and mission statements. See Jenkins (2005) and Patterson (2012) for a more expansive analysis on the various government agendas that serve as a backdrop for the ROM and AGO expansions.

  4. All financial figures in this paper are quoted in Canadian dollars.

  5. The neighborhoods that surround the ROM have a history of politically active residents’ associations. The famous urban thinker and activist Jane Jacobs lived a few blocks from the ROM until her death in 2006 and many residents believed they were continuing her legacy of urban activism.

  6. The ROM’s renaissance “script” is an example of what Joo (2016, p. 24) calls a “romantic narrative of urban progress.” Such narratives were already emerging in Toronto due to the opening of the heritage “Distillery District” in 2003 (ibid).

  7. I cannot independently confirm the statements that this participant attributes to William Thorsell and Daniel Libeskind. The significance of this quote is the sentiment it expresses, which was widely shared in the community and the press.

  8. It is also worth noting how the critics attribute the architecture primarily to the individual visions and personalities of the two architects, mostly ignoring the influences of the larger social context examined within this paper.

  9. From the perspective of consumption, as opposed to production, Bartmanski and Woodward (2015) have made a similar argument with regard to vinyl records. The material qualities of records create certain “affordances” for how they can be consumed. However, they remain mundane, mass produced commodities until they are incorporated into a public performance (by a DJ) that transforms them into an icon of authenticity and charisma in music.

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Acknowledgements

This article benefited from the comments and suggestions of several people. I would like to thank John Hannigan, Judith Taylor, Daniel Silver, Leonard Nevarez, Vanina Leschziner, Phillipa Chong, the anonymous AJCS reviews, and Jeffrey Alexander for their guidance and advice. I would also like to thank all those who participated in my research for sharing their perspectives and experiences.

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  1. Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Matt Patterson

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Patterson, M. Architecture as performance art: evaluating “iconic power” in the development of two museums. Am J Cult Sociol 8, 158–190 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-018-00067-2

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