Bunkers

“...fortifications aim not only to conserve power but also to conserve all combat techniques.” (virilio) To build a fortification is to resign oneself to defeat. The construction of Hitlers WW2 Atlantikwall was a futile effort to cling to what was already lost, the Riech was in decline and under threat from all sides, this enormous wall of defences was built to convince and reasure the Nazis of the strength of their own regiem. A successful regiem does not need to reasurence. In the 1860s the British Empire was undisputibily the most powerfull in the world, it had no need to reasure its population of its greatness for everyone knew it. Towards the end of the century however as its decline begun, the monumnets proliferated and became more and more elaborate as we tried to convince our selves that we were still as great as we ever were. To decorate is to reasure yourself of your wealth or power, as soon as you need reasuring you have most likely lost the possition you origionally held. Baroque in its nature is a type of fortification, its tries to convince and reasure, its use in churches is an attempt to convince the worshipers of the richness and power of god. All this comes from self doubt and inadiquacy.