Two poster designs for a thesis in 2021 at the ArtEZ Academy of Art in Zwolle.
Research was conducted in Rome in October 2021.
The complete research consisted of a 70-page PowerPoint presentation (later converted into a PDF), a 2-page manifesto, and a notebook with QR codes referring to pages used for the thesis.
Occupy: Combat | Conquer | Claim | Clear (liberate)
The history of many buildings in Rome and beyond is based on combat, conquering, and claiming.
For this research, we chose to examine this further through a term: OCCUPY
The history of the word begins in Latin, so we start in Rome.
Buildings such as the Colosseum, the various Egyptian obelisks, the Pantheon, the Baths of Diocletian, all have a relationship with occupy.
The Colosseum, which replaced Nero’s lake, was financed and built thanks to the occupation of Palestine and the use of thousands of enslaved Jews. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Colosseum itself became part of combat, conquest, and possession. Stripped of all its splendor.
The Egyptian obelisks taken as spoils by the Romans, which were eventually occupied with Christian symbolism. Likewise, Trajan's Column.
The church that Michelangelo built in the Baths of Diocletian.
Throughout history, we can find many examples related to this theme. The sexual aspect of occupy has always been a part of war. The rape of women as an act of war. Patriarchy in its worst form.
From the occupation by large capital in the old city centers of our country (V&D / Hudson’s Bay Zwolle) that destroys the old urban fabric to the temporary architecture of the OCCUPY MOVEMENT around the world, especially on Wall Street.
This movement was non-violent. The only Occupy protest that was very violent took place in... Rome, near the Colosseum.
The future of Occupy: Space. Occupy Mars is a common term.
Large capital (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, etc.) that now extends their combat, conquest, and possession beyond Earth.