PLANO B CROSSING THE U.S. TRYING TO BUILD AN ALTERNATIVE IDEA OF PROGRESS... WOULD YOU GIVE US A HAND?
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The idea of progress has been intertwined, since the 19th century, to the quest of the american colonizers towards the west. The coincidence of that movement, with an astounding economical growth and technological development, has made possible the perception of progress as a linear, one-way path.

In the field of architecture, progress has been made visible through the replacement of ancient building techniques by others that make use of industrially transformed materials, such as reinforced concrete, plastics or steel, and which have made possible the high-rise sprawl.

The U turn, so to speak, and the resulting impact against the WTC on September 11, of two airplanes on their way to the west, symbolically attacked the linear narrative behind the idea of progress. The present demonstration of the fragilities of the capitalist model, as well as the expectation brought about by the change in the US presidency, makes it interesting to engage in a critical westward trip.

The voyage that we propose is related to an existing commitment that the office Plano B has in May, to coordinate a rammed earth workshop in El Rito, New Mexico. To that workshop we propose to add another 5 along a defined (but not definitive) route: NY, Chicago, Washington, Auburn, El Rito, and San Francisco.

At each workshop words from a secret sentence will be constructed taken from the book "Pessimism: Philosophy, Ethic, Spirit" by Joshua Foa Dienstag. The sentence we have chosen to build, proposes an alternative perception of the idea of progress. Without denying that the concept of progress is intrinsic to a technology driven civilization, the sentence appeals nevertheless for a reduction in the expectation that progress might provide hope for an imperfect, biological and finite species.

The words will be constructed with the materials, the techniques and the volunteers available at each time. The words will be recorded in some medium, posted on an internet blog in their correct relative position in the sentence, but in the random sequence in which they are produced.

This is the blog where the disclosure of the sentence will take place.

OF AN

The final stretch of the journey was the return from San Francisco to New York by plane. There was still one word missing. In fact two: of an.
Hope was supposed to be the last word but we had skipped of an.

So, we had one more day in NY before returning home and no idea how to get the two words done.
NY seems to be a city in decay. This decay is not caused by the economical situation, or the collapse of the twin towers. Decay is part of the city, the same way as skyscrapers, the subway and cabs. It isn't a lacking of something, is an urban element in itself, brought about by use and time.

Trash is dumped on the sidewalks for collection early in the morning, pavements are uncared for, century old subway stations with peeling paint are packed with rats roaming through the lines. NY is becoming old and weary. Would we call it historical in Europe?

One thing we were always looking for when arriving in new cities was the historical quarter. That is obviously the European mind searching for the church square, the city council and the central cafe. The place of stability opposed to the unbounded continuity of the american strip. There's no such stability place in most US cities.
In NY there's the Grid and there's the river. The abstract continuity and the natural limit that forces an abrupt transition, a phase transition in the continuum: from homogeneity to intensity.

And there was money, lots of money for a long time, building up intensity, giving it a shape. The effort of building, the immense physical labor, stays hidden behind the skyline. Contrary to other historical buildings - the wall of China, the Pyramids, the Parthenon - what impresses most in NY is not the effort, the power over will or technical excellence, but the investment.
NY is a decaying monument to capital. A beautiful one, by the way.

We made our contribution. 7 dollars and 58 cents, to be more precise.