This is CORTEX. Metropolis between history and nature. A perspective on what the city can be like in 50 years. Beyond the Anthropocene.. CORTEX is BIG.
CORTEX is a collaboration between Rik de Bondt, Joep Worms, Jasper Brus and Lisa Timmers. As a group, we participated in the Eindhoven Metropolis Challenge 2066. A dynamic work streak of 36 hours resulted in CORTEX, which was awarded with first prize. We are very proud to present CORTEX during the Dutch Design Week 2016 at Klokgebouw in the exhibition 'Mind The Step'! MANIFESTO
For millions of ye
ars, humankind had been subjected to nature. Depending on Mother Nature’s mood, humans flourished or faded. At a given moment, Homo Sapiens, through some genetic f**k-up, got a grip on its habitat. This control was concretised by the invention of architecture. With the succeeding conquest of the planet, the species nearly annihilated itself. In the year 2066, we have reached a critical moment in history. We have made the world artificial, and have achieved a state of absolute independence from nature. One aspect of this new reality is that the artificiality of our environment has become nearly flawless. We generate food in sky-scraping factories. In virtual reality, we travel the world at the speed of light. As a result of migration, the population of cities is more diverse than ever. This new reality causes alienation and social isolation; we cannot write stories on the continuously changing paper of rapid urbanisation and personalized virtual reality. What part of the world can we still peacefully and joyfully share with other citizens? In a nostalgic reflex we tried to construct our collective stories on static cities, historical documents that received protection from impenetrable bureaucratic bastions. Cities like Venice and Amsterdam became increasingly inaccessible and even unable to act as a breeding ground for prospective narratives. Rather than uniting people, static cities instigated social segregation and stagnation. CORTEX is an urban revolution. CORTEX unchains us from history. CORTEX allows us to cultivate our collective history, and individually transcend that history. CORTEX is a self-sustaining system in which we can construct inconceivable worlds. It is the ultimate playground for experiment and interchange. Thanks to its circular transit system, everyone is able to reach a million fellow inhabitants within ten minutes. Revolving at high speed, CORTEX facilitates a circular culture of congestion. CORTEX is surrounded by a cultivated uncultivated nature (NL: Oernatuur). Here, we can experience a vulnerability to the violence of nature. It lets us encounter authentic fear of death, stabilizing our socially constructed and artificial reality. Oernatuur offers a sensation of primordial freshness. With nature stretched out to an infinite safari park and the past contained in an accessible center, CORTEX reconfigures and materializes our relation to nature and to each other. When we feel lost, and when we despair for community, CORTEX serves introspection. CORTEX frames the center as a living mystification of the past, recording our greatest achievements and transgressions. We see a history of continuous migration in search of a better place, and observe that the better place is only what we - all wanderers in virtual and physical space - collectively construct. CORTEX is a metropolitan cabin in the wilderness. Surrounded by our legendary antagonist Oernatuur, we re-establish the city as a collective construct, committed to an effort of ultimate rebellion against nature: ARCHITECTURE.
