Friday, March 13, 2009

Festschrift or retrospective

Looking at buildings being demolished, two architects discuss a holding a retrospective of a colleague's work.

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Jakob: He’ll be 90 in less than a couple of years.


Roman: We should celebrate it somehow.


Jakob: A festschrift, you mean?


Roman: He’s not an academic. He’s an architect. Festschrifts are books of essays written by disciples published in honor of someone retiring. Artists and architects don’t have festschrifts.


Jakob: Right. Maybe we should have an exhibition. A retrospective of his buildings.


Roman: Have to be photographs. A lot of his buildings have been knocked down.


Jakob: Buildings may look solid. But when confronted by the depredations of city planners, architecture can be a fragile art.

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Voice-over

Specific vocabulary for commemorations: festschrifts for academics, retrospectives for artists. Exercise caution in use.

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