The Stones of Menace

The one day art & architecture event The Stones of Menace took place at the Brutalist church St Paul ’s Bow Common in East London on June 26th.

It showcased work by architects, artists and members of the local community in order to explore perspectives on the architecture of New Brutalism and on the role of art in relation to housing and regeneration. The event opened up a debate on culture as a source of conflict and criticism and was accompanied by a small publication of texts by architects, artists and writers such as Alan Powers, Ben Seymour and Owen Hatherley.

Charbel Ackermann, Atelier 14, Jack Brindley, Eleanor Vonne Brown, Nim-Jo Chung, Garry Doherty, Sarah Entwistle, Julika Gittner, Liam Herne, Claire Hope, Candice Jacobs, Jane Madsen, Ioana Marinescu, Ruth Oldham, Alan Powers, Jon Purnell, Natasha Rees, Nikola Semotanova, William Titley, Stina Wirfelt 

The architecture of New Brutalism has some severe critics such as the Prince of Wales who famously denounced many of the structures as "piles of concrete". However, John Ruskin’s The Stones of Venice faulted all architecture based on Greek or Roman models as "utterly devoid of all life, virtue, honourableness, or power of doing good".
 
Thus debates about architectural aesthetics usually go hand in hand with convictions about architecture’s ideological foundation and social function. The austere architecture of New Brutalism is often vilified as producing social neglect rather than securing the vibrant community life envisioned by its architects. This view has led to a continuing string of demolitions of landmark buildings from this period.

Contemporary art on the other hand is expected to ‘stir things up’, to be radical, controversial and provocative. Art is often seen as a safe ‘valve’ for the expression of social discontent and criticism. Who could ever dream of destroying a seminal piece of art because it is deemed too radical?