Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye “Sunk” in Danish Fjord

I came across this article on my random internet searches trying to distract myself from the election, and I found it very interesting.

https://worldarchitecture.org/article-links/ehnpg/le_corbusiers_villa_savoye_sunk_in_danish_fjord_to_criticize_the_sinking_of_modernity.html

It talks about how the Danish artist Asmund Havsteen-Mikkelsen created a large scale replica of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, one of the architect’s best-known buildings in France, and submerged it in a Danish fjord. It was named Flooded Modernity, presented in the 2018 Floating Art Festival. It is a critique on the major technology fiasco of the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the manipulation of democratic elections through social media like Russian intervention in the 2016 elections.

I found it interesting how he comments that modernity has in essence disappeared because the concept of technology has detracted from its pureness. He says “Architecture is not just brick, but also constitutes a social and political space.” I also love this piece because it uses water and nature in such a unique way, it’s an open exhibition of art in this day and age when we consider the best art to be housed in famous museums, lighted behind glass windows, guarded by security, and roped off from crowds.