Formless Multitudes: Against the Public Spaces of Empire

Abstract

Focusing on three sites in Auckland Central, this thesis is a critical commentary on contemporary public space through the lens of the political and philosophical concepts of “Multitude” and “Formless.” Recognising the current failings of public space in its adherence to the ideals of democratic thinking to serve all individuals, this thesis endeavours to critique the contemporary undemocratic political, societal and architectural status quo through the exploration of the political notion of “Multitude” - an affirmation of multiplicity in society that does not reduce diversity into uniformity. The first parts of this thesis explores, critiques and expands on how historical political outlooks and their transformations have influenced the public sphere and hence public space. In doing so, the definition of public sphere by German sociologist Jürgern Habermas is used. Thereafter, focusing on Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s notion of the self-governing Multitude as an alternative to the “new world order” (Empire) rising from globalisation of capitalist production and exchange, the thesis attempts to explicate this alternative with consideration of the impositions of the historical figure of the architect in contrast with production in common. To further bring the political theory of Multitude into the realm of architectural production, this thesis argues that as Multitude escapes most defining categories, it might be described as formless. Hence to advance this research, it investigates the notion of l’informe (Formless) by French theorist Georges Bataille in his journal Documents (1929). Formless is a “term that serves to bring things down in the world,” not give absolute definitions to forms, words or objects but to deconstruct historically accepted and habituated meanings. The thesis deploys the notion of Formless as a creative force in the making process: to replace absolute methods with an aleatory practice and embrace entropy over control. In parallel, this part identifies multifarious architectural and non-architectural precedents that directly and indirectly show a disposition towards an architecture of the Multitude, informing the speculations and critiques that occur in this thesis. Finally, focusing on three major sites in the Central Business District of Auckland, City Works Depot, Queens Wharf and Britomart Precinct, the thesis offers three architectural speculations as critical commentaries to highlight the issues of the global status quo. By challenging and blurring the architectural boundaries these explorations also challenge political boundaries. The speculations attempt to visually represent these issues as well as the absurdity of authority through hypothetical architectural situations as created by the multitude (as opposed to the architect) in acts of resistance or simply harmless activities that are seen by authorities as illegitimate. In the manner of l’informe, this thesis does not attempt to define itself as a radical utopian proposal of an absolute architecture, but rather a critique to open a dialogue against the widely accepted architectural practices that often produce inconsistencies with democratic thinking.