A Rebirth of Theaters
There is a fascinating new cultural trend that I've been noticing slowly gaining in popularity over the past year: showing big events in theaters, put on by private organizations, TV stations, etc. This is a very interesting development in culture on a number of levels.
1) It is signalling an even great trend towards 3d viewing - since a large screen and easy distribution of 3d glasses make large audience theaters very attractive.
2) It is mimicking the phenomenon of people moving OUT of the suburbs and back INTO the city. This was triggered for a number of reasons - gas prices, environmental concerns, mortgage crises, typical ebb and flow of living habits, etc. But when people opt out of viewing something in the privacy and comfort of their own homes, and opt for going out on the town, to see and be seen, and give up comfort for an added adrenalyn rush of partaking in a group/social event, it signals that a resurgence of openness and energy is beginning to take shape.
3) Broadcasting local events, such as live shows from the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, around the country to theatres, shows an embrace of modern technology and a willingness to modify habits based on available possibilities. This is something that is incredibly important to me as a contemporary architect, and I hope that it will transform from a social trend to a broad cultural taste, allowing more every day people to embrace new technologies and aesthetics in their design and architecture.
Here are some links to various new uses for the every day movie theater. I would love to get everybody's take on this so comments are, as always, welcome.
Labels: Architecture, Culture
posted by darkred at 6:52 AM
2 Comments:
I welcome this development as well. I think some things work better than others. In my personal opinion, most theaters are not going to present the same experience as the Civic Opera House or the Met or whatever venue that is being broadcast. However, it will give you a taste of it and it might broaden your horizons onto something you wouldn't normally be all that interested in otherwise. Then again if you are attending the event, you probably enjoy opera already. So my theory could have no support whatsoever.
I would tend to agree with you, some of those theatres that are showing a resurgance are just gorgeous inside and I think should be used for any and all events. I do agree with Kramer that the acoustics may not be the best for an opera but is still better for people to be culturally educated than sitting at home watching Deal or No Deal.
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