Representing Pasts – Visioning Futures

Abstract

One way of theorizing the fundamental reorganization of our aesthetic coordinates that modernism brought about is to understand both modern and postmodern artistic creation as phases of a dialectical movement. As Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek have pointed out, modernism may well be understood as the negation of ‘pre-modern’ art, whereas postmodernism acts as the moment of sublation—the final synthesis, if you will—that preserves and combines elements from both stages. Admittedly, this is plumpes Denken at its best—no room for finesse here—although it does work surprisingly well in the field of architecture. After all, the advent of the modern upended the lavish styles of the late 19th century by producing their polar opposite (think, for instance, of Adolf Loos, who went as far as to ‘criminalize’ the use of ornaments), whereas postmodern architecture succeeded in blending both traditional and modern elements in a jocular, casual and often parodistic fashion. Against this background, the present paper proposes an in-depth exploration of an even more recent phenomenon: huachafo architecture, an emerging cultural trend in Bolivia and Peru. Although frequently dismissed (or even derided) by its detractors—the term huachafo itself may be translated as ‘tacky’ or ‘tasteless’—, it has already established itself in many neighborhoods of the countries’ largest cities, often in less affluent (or even informal) areas. Much like its Western counterpart, huachafo architecture approaches its subject with a sensibility towards both traditional and modern stylistic codes; its results, however, differ considerably from most ‘classically postmodern’ designs. This paper thus sets out to posit huachafo architecture as a kind of ‘alternate postmodernism’ that draws heavily on regional influences, while challenging some of our preconceived notions about the importance of ‘good taste’, as well as the implicit assumptions on class that often accompany this type of reasoning.