Upon hearing that Rem Koolhaas’s “Pants” building in Shanghai (a.k.a. the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, part of TVCC’s headquarters) was inadvertently burned to the ground during Chinese new year celebration, Ed Ruscha’s “The Los Angeles County Museum on Fire” from 1968 came immediately to mind. In a Believer interview from 1968, Ruscha said of the work:
““I’m not lighting fires,” he said. “It’s a way of attaching an additional meaning to the painting that would otherwise not have fire—if I can be so simple to say. And it’s fun to paint fire.”
And the obits roll in.
+ Fire Ravages Renowned Building in Beijing (NYT)
+ TVCC Fire (Archinect)
Images: David Grey/ Reuters, Collection of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC.
