4 – 2011

Mannerisms

As a rule, a sufficient temporal remove allows us to make a more reliable assessment of past events. However much we strive for objectivity, every judgment remains tied to our particular time and on this account a look at history is anything but free of prejudice. We encounter this phenomenon also in writing on the history of architecture, which, from epoch to epoch, from generation to generation, looks with new eyes at the elements of the past that are embodied in the architecture of the present. Such historic processes are sluggish and extend over a long period of time. With architecture criticism, which expresses itself in a faster rhythm, things are different. It observes, analyses, evaluates, takes sides and, in the best of cases, serves a discourse conducted publicly and in specialist circles. This, however, does not relieve critics of the need to find their way in the history of architecture, which they must repeatedly consult for purposes of comparison. Sensitive architecture criticism attempts to fathom qualities and exposes mere posturing. In certain cases it recognises tendencies without, in the process, becoming a modish trend-setter. In this issue we do not deal with trends, but venture to take up the term “mannerism”, a centuries-old approach and a form of artistic expression that appears to be playing an increasing role in the strategies and formal concepts of present-day architecture. Mannerisms speak their own language, which, far removed from any form of affectation, is clearly gaining increasing ground.