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MAYA LIN

“I feel I exist on the b o u n d a r i e s .

Somewhere between s c i e n c e a n d a r t , art

and architecture, public and private, east and west. I am always trying to find a

b a l a n c e between these opposing forces,

f i n d i n g t h e p l a c e w h e r e o p p o s i t e s m e e t .”

Architect & artist

A balance between art and architecture.

Body of work includes large-scale site-specific installations, intimate studio artworks, architectural works and memorials.

Landscape is the context and the source of inspiration for Ms. Lin's art.

Merging rational and technological order with notions of beauty and the transcendental.

Utilizing technological methods to study and visualize the natural world

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design that bridges the east and west

RAFAEL: Now the founders of MOCA had as one of its

goals to break down the stereotypes of Chinese people,

Chinese culture. Is breaking down stereotypes also one of

the goals in the design for MOCA?

MAYA: Well I think consciously from the very beginning,

obviously a lot of my work has been time’s deemed Zen

or very Asian in feeling. I sometimes wonder because I’m

coming out of certainness that Scandinavian design

shaker, design 50’s modernism. If I weren’t Chinese,

would they have attached those labels? Would they

instead have said you’re minimalist? So I’m looking at

everything from restaurants, to other museums to things

that have been called Asian in design because I don’t

want to become a stereotype in this. In fact, I’m acutely

aware of falling into this trap and I really want to explore

that as far as why is this Asian-looking? And maybe I

really don’t want to fall into the trap of making something

that looks Asian style. This is a museum that will bridge

Chinatown and Soho. Once again, old and new. We’re

going to be stripping it bare to the absolute joints so that

you begin to see the old building itself, the old structure

which probably is 100 years old. On top of that will be

exposing all the stone work in the basement as you come

up in the court yard. So the blending is really about an

inner layer that’s older, surrounded by a more modern

skin which will probably announce to the city this is a

museum, this is a new museum that will really take you

through a history, a timeline.

RAFAEL: You said that you grew up, although it was pretty unusual for Chinese

American families, you grew up pretty oblivious to your Chinese American culture. How

come?

MAYA: I think my brother and I were the only Chinese Americans I remember there was

one friend of mine who was half-American, half-Chinese. And there really wasn’t a

community. I think when there isn’t a community and you’re the only person, you look at

every other child’s face and you think you look like that. You don’t realize you’re

different. And I think it was actually, it’s a college town, Ohio University. And I think in an

academic world Where your color, your race, your sex was not as important as, i think,

what was in your mind. And so I was really happily buffered from that. I think I have

encountered, since that time, certain situations where it’s bound to happen at times.

The most public, I think was in Washington, but I think even during the Vietnam

Memorial and the fact that I didn’t even realize it would be an issue. It took me about 8

months being in Washington ‘til I kind of asked the veterans, is this a problem? They

had been trying to protect me from it, they haven’t told me about the letters that were

coming in.

RAFAEL: And what did the letters say?

MAYA: Why would you let a gook design this? I mean I remember reporters saying, well

don’t you think it’s ironic the war was an Asian war and you’re of Asian descent? And I

just said point blank, well that’s irrelevant. It took me 9 months to realize I might see it

that way, but that’s not how a lot of people saw.

RAFAEL: You also said that your work exists often exists in the boundary between east

and west. How does that metaphor work?

MAYA: I think this metaphor is perfect for what I do in my work that being Chinese

American, you’re of both cultures. And I think this entire building will be on the edge or

in between, or perhaps it’s going to step in certain areas more than to one world than

the next, but this becomes just an incredible opportunity from an architectural point of

view to explore that borderline situation and I think it’s really sometimes you feel you’re

in between. Other times, you feel you’re part of both and I think that’s something we’ll

be exploring throughout.

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VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a

national war memorial in Washington,

D.C. It honors members of the U.S.

armed forces who fought in the Vietnam

War and who died in service or are still

unaccounted for.

Its construction and related issues have

been the source of controversies, some

of which have resulted in additions to the

memorial complex. The memorial

currently consists of three separate parts:

the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam

Women's Memorial, and the Vietnam

Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the

best-known part of the memorial.

PRINCIPLES FOR THE

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

The Wall/Memorial is blended in as part of the landscape instead of asserting its dominant presence regardless its environment: one end points at the Lincoln Memorial, and the other points at the Washington Monument; together, they make up a trilogy—the self becoming part of the other or wise versa;

Pay attention to interrelations;

1. Importance of compromise

Where to put an American flag?

Where it is necessary to add some

statues and sculpture pieces to express

veterans’ feelings;

The wisdom of American politics is to

compromise, not to prevail

2. Political vs. Apolitical approach

Though Maya Lin adopted an apolitical

approach, her design makes a strong

statement regarding whether we should

glorify the war or value lost lives;

This is a consequential claim that is made

of empathy, logos, ethos, and pathos

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considerate, thoughtful

Empathy): why the

chronological order in name

listing makes sense in this

case;

The power of projecting one's

personality into (and so fully

comprehending) the object of

contemplation.

empathy: an encounter

between the self and the other

1. the intellectual identification with

or vicarious experiencing of the

feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of

another.

2. the imaginative ascribing to an

object, as a natural object or work of

art, feelings or attitudes present in

oneself: By means of empathy, a

great painting becomes a mirror of

the self.

Symbolic Design

Lin's conception was to create an opening or a wound in the

earth to symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers. The

design was initially controversial for what was an

unconventional and non-traditional design for a war memorial.

Opponents of the design also voiced objection because of Lin's

Asian heritage. However, the memorial has since become an

important pilgrimage site for relatives and friends of the

American military casualties in Vietnam, and personal tokens

and mementos are left at the wall daily in their memory.

empathy and sympathy

are relationships based on Shared

Emotions & Understanding.

Empathy is understood as the ability

to mutually experience the thoughts,

emotions, and direct experience of

others without them being directly

communicated intentionally.

Sympathy is a feeling of care and

understanding for suffering beings.

Both have similar usage but differ in

their emotional meaning.

● ● ●

Empathy vs. Sympathy

Empathy

The ability to co-experience and relate to the thoughts, emotions, or experience of another without them being communicated directly by the individual

Imagine thoughts of person you feel sympathetic for.

Sympathy

The ability to understand and to support the emotional situation or experience of another being with compassion and sensitivity

Feel sorry for; Feel pity for; Feel bad for someone There is a fine line between sympathy and a patronizing attitude

● ● ●

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