TOTEM WAR - WHEN ARCHITECTURE BECOMES RIVAL CLANS’ BATTLEFIELD autors : Louisa Gouesnard, Martial Marquet, Nicolas Polaert. date : Jan 2011 Place : Sliznevo, RUSSIA. Dimensions : variables Materials : Wood/Steel
What is happening in Sliznevo ?
In 2011, 75% of the Russian’s population has moved to a major city. But, in Sliznevo, people are still believing in rural tradition and preserve their community culture. Sliznevo is a small Russian village located in the middle of the giant Siberian Taiga forest. Centuries ago, two rival families came into conflict. But instead of killing each other, they decided to confront their strength and power by building the tallest totems they could. The totem would be the symbol of the family through its size and aspect.The family who built the highest totem would be recognized as the most prestigious and powerful family of Sliznevo. Soon, all the other clans joined the battle. The tradition has been transmitted from parents to children.
Nowadays, each family is still building its own totem to represent itself. First they started by a simple pile of timber, but each totem became quickly a structural and aesthetical challenge. Year after year they developed specific wood structure, which has evolved according to the last technologies. Those constructions are generated by computer aided technologies called parametric design.Thanks to their past and cultural heritage, what they build adopts a very genuine typology and because each clan is different, each totem represents it through it’s own architecture. A totem is an entity as an animal or other natural figure. It spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan or a family. All the members of each family are part of their own totem's construction. For Sliznevo’s inhabitants, the totem represents autority, respect, pride. So far, every inhabitant has grown up with the will to contribute to maintain the tradition of Totem War. The first use is just to show how powerful and unify a family can be. But some clans also adopt the totem as a belvedere or a shelter. Those totem are sacred, they can’t be destroyed, they have to be respected. The totem is presented as the foundation of institutions, a model of behavior, a requirement of organization. In the Kingship, the totems organize the alliances (wedding rings) and the systems of relationship.
This village is a micro-utopia, a modern San Gimignano, which represents at a small scale what is happening since more than a hundred years in our cities : the quest of the highest tower. This is one of our society syndromes, and there is no need of a Babel ending to understand the vanity of this phenomenom. Today, everyone wants to be part of it, with a full commitment. It has become a fashionable religion.
TOTEM WAR - WHEN ARCHITECTURE BECOMES RIVAL CLANS’ BATTLEFIELD autors : Louisa Gouesnard, Martial Marquet, Nicolas Polaert. date : Jan 2011 Place : Sliznevo, RUSSIA. Dimensions : variables Materials : Wood/Steel
What is happening in Sliznevo ?
In 2011, 75% of the Russian’s population has moved to a major city. But, in Sliznevo, people are still believing in rural tradition and preserve their community culture. Sliznevo is a small Russian village located in the middle of the giant Siberian Taiga forest. Centuries ago, two rival families came into conflict. But instead of killing each other, they decided to confront their strength and power by building the tallest totems they could. The totem would be the symbol of the family through its size and aspect.The family who built the highest totem would be recognized as the most prestigious and powerful family of Sliznevo. Soon, all the other clans joined the battle. The tradition has been transmitted from parents to children.
Nowadays, each family is still building its own totem to represent itself. First they started by a simple pile of timber, but each totem became quickly a structural and aesthetical challenge. Year after year they developed specific wood structure, which has evolved according to the last technologies. Those constructions are generated by computer aided technologies called parametric design.Thanks to their past and cultural heritage, what they build adopts a very genuine typology and because each clan is different, each totem represents it through it’s own architecture. A totem is an entity as an animal or other natural figure. It spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan or a family. All the members of each family are part of their own totem's construction. For Sliznevo’s inhabitants, the totem represents autority, respect, pride. So far, every inhabitant has grown up with the will to contribute to maintain the tradition of Totem War. The first use is just to show how powerful and unify a family can be. But some clans also adopt the totem as a belvedere or a shelter. Those totem are sacred, they can’t be destroyed, they have to be respected. The totem is presented as the foundation of institutions, a model of behavior, a requirement of organization. In the Kingship, the totems organize the alliances (wedding rings) and the systems of relationship.
This village is a micro-utopia, a modern San Gimignano, which represents at a small scale what is happening since more than a hundred years in our cities : the quest of the highest tower. This is one of our society syndromes, and there is no need of a Babel ending to understand the vanity of this phenomenom. Today, everyone wants to be part of it, with a full commitment. It has become a fashionable religion.