THE CLIMB
Architectuur in de toekomst
Samenwerking : Ioana Trusca
Inzending voor de “Fairy Tales 2020” Competitie van Blank Space
De Fairy Tales 2020 competitie, georganiseerd door Blank Space, nodigt creatievelingen uit om unieke architectonische sprookjes in te dienen. De deelnemers worden uitgedaagd om een meeslepend verhaal te creëren, vergezeld van vijf beelden, met als doel actuele wereldproblemen aan te pakken met fantasierijke oplossingen. Gebaseerd op zijn erfgoed als de grootste jaarlijkse architectuurwedstrijd ter wereld, zoekt Fairy Tales 2020 verhalen die niet alleen de toestand van onze planeet weerspiegelen, maar ook visionaire ideeën voor een betere toekomst voorstellen.
PART 1
Here we go again... Back to the tower, slowly walking down the path, entering the ancient forest. The morning sunlight, piercing through branches and roots and creepers, together with the leftover mist of the morning, makes this tower look almost mystical. And in a way, it isn’t far from the truth.
Another month has passed and it’s time to reset the counter. I’m not even sure what it is that the button on the top floor kept in place. I only know it is my job to complete this task, one month after another. I have to go up to the top of The Tower, and push that red button, again and again, until my body will help me no more and the task will be passed on to a younger soul.
That sounds quite grim…I wish i knew what it really does. Why am I going through all of this for? This time worn machine has too many secrets.
People have all sorts of stories for the function of this tower. Some say it’s what’s stopping the climate to go berserk, or that it sends some sort of signal in outer space some say it’s a silly myth and the tower is useless. I’m pretty sure not even my grandmother cares for these stories anymore.
So much fuss for a little button…time to start climbing, can’t let the world collapse!
PART 2
At least everything is beautiful on my way here, there is such harmony, and I am grateful to witness it all. When I see my surroundings I feel how important my monthly task is. I just know it. It seems it’s been like this forever. When I look around I almost can’t believe the stories they say about the times past.
I can’t be certain if they are true, but I read glimpses of them each time I climb to the top. The walls of this tower are covered with symbols, lines, dots and curves. This old alphabet is still so vague to me after all this time. I stop and study them on my way up, and I like to think that each time I understand them a little better.
I’m still fascinated every time I come here. Most of the time I’m under the impression of looking at scary monsters of the past, but sometimes I try to see the world of those times through them, and understand what it was like and how it would be to live like that.
PART 3
How could these people of the past have lived with such little space? I make out phrases about these giant structures consisting of small encapsulated spaces, big blocks of concrete stuck one on top of each other. I see no symbols of nature as we have it now, it mustn’t have been that important in those times.
I see many symbols of metal transporters, that could go around the world in minutes, and there’s one part talking about dark clouds and grey particles covering the sky. How awful... look at the beautiful forest surrounding me. Oh how lucky I am! It seems to me that these runes talk about heavy concrete structures, machinery at an unimaginable scale, slow and loud, releasing fumes all over. My sky is blue and white on most days, theirs seems to be so gray in all these depictions.
I’m halfway there and I’m already tired. Time to take a break. I can almost see my village from up here, those small dots in the trees, they must be having more fun than me. I wish I could explore other parts of this world and not be stuck to this place.
Maybe if I really understood those scribbles on the walls, I’d just read something like ‘stop wasting your time going up and down this tower’.
PART 4
Oh well … time to take a deep breath of fresh misty air and move on.
I almost slipped and fell on that last part. Luckily I managed to grab one of those ropes and got back on track. Is my life really worth going through this every month? All this trouble for a damn button, when maybe all it does is stop people from itching…
It’s so difficult to keep my balance. Gravity feels different here, it’s almost like magic. It takes a lot of focus
My mind still keeps slipping into the past. I wonder if things were really as bad, or if these are mere exaggerations. Could a society really work in such conditions? Clearly not, since the only proof of their existence is on the walls of this tower. If only I could grasp the meaning behind them, I would maybe understand more about where we come from and how we got here. No one remembers though.
Sometimes I think that a sure way to find out how it really was before, would be to simply not push the button. Once and for all, I’d break the spell, and find out if we’ve all been living a giant lie all this time.
PART 5
I’m so sick of this climb! If we’re such an evolved society then why did we not bother to invent an easier way to do this? Or why can’t we even figure out how to fix that broken elevator...
However, when I see the red button glowing through the misty air all other thoughts disappear. I must admit there’s something hypnotizing about its diffuse light - on and off, on and off. I look around, it’s already dawn. I can’t believe how long it took me to get here!
TIme to finish the job! my task is almost done … but what if?
There’s a dark question hovering around my head: what if I didn’t do it this time? This would be one sure way to find out once and for all if the drawings on the towers are bedtime stories or warning signs. This arduous climb has made me feel so small, yet now I feel as if I had all of humanity at the tip of my finger.
