A thousand years from now it will be an uncompleted and abandoned project that looks like Stonehenge. People will theorize about why it was built and what it was for.
Will it though? "Oh, this is where they put spare concrete blocks. You can tell it wasn't for religious purposes or telling the seasons because it's so uninteresting."
This is being built in the town of Wemding which celebrated its 1,200 year anniversary in 1993. The idea was to build something that would take 1,200 years to complete in order to emphasize how long the town has been in existence. People saying its stupid or going to be abandoned are forgetting the town itself has existed for longer.
While the town is that old I promise you that almost nothing looks like it was 1200 years ago. Maybe they can hold on that tradition 100 years but at some point the people won't bother. Need more space or don't see the point of it anymore
That's a nice thought but will the town actually still exist if the population doesn't? Humans have maybe 120 years left, there's zero chance of humans finishing this pyramid.
Although if a weird little art installation in a small German town is what gets capitalism to end, I'm all for it.
Yup, "off by 1" mistake. How does nobody noticed that during the planning phase? And it's the German no less, aren't they supposed to be super good at these kind of things?
I think it's already interesting. You can already see the difference in age on the existing blocks, and the difference will only grow with each decade of the project. I think the contrast between the first and final blocks would make a striking sight and poignant point about how something we might consider permanent within a single lifetime, concrete, really really isn't.
The project also doesn't require that every block be concrete. The material can be whatever, and as such, future blocks, and then past blocks, may come to represent the major construction methods of their times.
As an art-installation that makes me contemplate the past, the future, and the passing of time, I'd consider it successful starting on the day the first block was put down.
Whether it becomes complete one day, or is abandoned somewhere along the way, the piece has, and will have, a lot to say about the relationship that humans have with time.
I think you’re glamourising it beyond its merit. As the planet turns into a smoking ball of shit over next 75 years. People will have less opportunity and desire to stare at a pile of concrete blocks while stroking their dick in wonder. Humans are too quick to label things “poignant” in our quest to bring meaning into an increasingly meaningless world. We’ve reached a point where the quest for poignancy now results in literal sculptures made of feces being discussed as critical statements of the human condition. With the money being spend on the pyramid, what practical good could we do today?
Basically what they did was the following. Each concrete block represents 10 years. They get placed when another decade ends/starts(not to sure). So the problem is the following: when the 1200 years are over they have only placed 119 blocks so the building will be finished in 1210 years. Its the same as with a fence. If you have e.g. 10 Elements of a fence you need 11 posts. The ones who designed this building however didnt count the fence posts(the concrete blocks which mark the end of a decade) and I stead counted the "fence elements" causing the whole thing to be off by 10 years.
while that seems like a long time for Germany to build The Pyramids it's actually only 12 turns and the free granary in every city will really help in the early game
I think the issue is the time span between blocks. Had they done a 1200 block, once a year thing, it would "feel" like progress and something to participate in regularly, even if you will never see the majority of it. Geometrically with the same design to get 1200 blocks I came up with a base of 19 blocks, then every odd number, skipping 11 and 3.