Anton B

Anton Blewett

The Tides of Time
While walking from the Tibre through Trastevere to the top of the Gianicolo, the
final derive of a four part series, a mythic story unfolded before me, a lensthat
introduced a new understanding of the formation of Rome, or simply the creation
of urban fabric. The urban is one of the most base of human artifacts. As an
object that exists and is worked upon,it leaves traces; artifacts persist, yet
change endlessly. These traces are uniquely revealed along the Gianicolo. Tides
of urban creation move up the Gianicolo, sometimes slowing well below thetop,
at others making it beyond. A tide is made unique by its intensity. Within each
tide, different forces and pressures shape intentions. Hence the shape of
materials and substances vary. Yet asthe tide rises, it too must fall.

The tide recedes. The presence that creates, shapes and builds disappear.
When the intensities that make the fabric vibrant fade, buildings decay. Wood
rots,bricks crumble, and steel withers. Yet the presence never disappears
completely. Whereas the collective force of one period ends, it eventually is
replaced. Or did it end? New intensities are notactually new; they too draw upon
the prior collective force. Even with the greatest gap periods, where the new tide
must be something entirely different, such as with the gap between Romeʼs fall
andsubsequent reunification over a millennium later, the new force is made
within the clearing left by the othersʼ absence. The clearing (or void as
understood within architecture) has shape. And so itshapes.

The crab finds home as the ocean tide recedes. While past wealth is clearly
felt in the Villa Corsini and Villa Farnesina, it is interesting to note how many
palazzi are vacant. The cause ofvacancy is unknown; it must be cost. Yet some
are filled with squatters: artist workshops, offices for social work and other vital
services that cannot exist in such neighborhoods without the...