Mūsdienu kultūras stāvokļi / Conditions for Contemporary Culture. Riga

by Oskars Redbergs

333 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Signe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel ambivalent about this book. I would give 5 stars for the idea but the execution leaves something to be desired. There were some good texts and some valuable ideas in it, and I particularly enjoyed the texts of Pallasmaa, Celmiņš and Hanovs, but I feel that the whole book is somewhat discredited by giving space for three texts of Viesturs Rudzītis, a misogonist and sexist, who spouts unsubstantiated religious propaganda far below any academic standard. And when I arrived at the text of Alexander Rappaport I grew seriously concerned for the education of architecture offered at RISEBA, where he was teaching at the time at least, as he suggests in all seriousness that "I believe that the development of architecture of ancient civilizations cannot be explained by anything but the direct intervention of God and therefore I am confident that the Lord will intervene once again." Having such heavy unquestioned religious overtones in a supposedly serious publication on culture in this this century is frankly strange. I am just sorry and almost ashamed that Juhani Pallasmaa has to appear next to such tripe. 2 and 1/2 stars.