Brainwaving, Unexpected Gains and Abba Karaoke

Karmastica Republic (after Tomoyuki Tanaka),from Second-Hand City series (2010-2011) by

Michael Lee,Digital print on archival paper,123 x 123 cm, Edition of 10 + AP,Image courtesy of
Chan-Hampe Galleries, Singapore

In 2010, noted social wholefare theoretician Theodore Sigel spoke at a dinner held aboard
the Dardanella, an exploration-type yacht designed by Vripack Naval Architects. The
dinner kicked off a symposium on Caribbean socio-economics. This symposium was
inspired by two earlier sea-borne symposiums. The first, in 1933, was conducted while
cruising the Mediterranean aboard the SS Patris, on which a group of Modernist architects
produced the Athens Charter, a publication now considered to be a classic treatise on
urban functionality.
The 1966 symposium toured the Aegean Sea aboard the New Hellas. It produced the
Charter of Delos, a prophetic warning about globalization's impact on urban areas.
Following is a transcription of Mr. Sigel's speech.
Ship ahoy! Greetings fellow pirates! Our time together will be filled with unexpected and
far-reaching results, I'm sure! Let's get to it, shall we?
My brief speech will touch upon the brain, society, KS Wong and the science of creating
the unexpected. Those interested in learning more about these ideas may be able to
squeeze into tomorrow's seminars. Please see Charlotte.
Experiments by Professor Dowsing at Cambridge have shown that neurons in the brain
are most stimulated when subjects receive unexpected gains. The next highest neuron
firing rate, coming in a very distant second, occurs when test subjects experience an
unexpected loss. The third highest degree of neural firing occurs in situations of expected
loss. Subjects receiving the gains they expected showed the least neural activity.
Professor Dowsing's experiments were based on financial transactions, but are considered
accurate for gains and losses of any type. Dowsing's experiments demonstrate that
unexpected gains make people smarter. They also show that complacency encourages
mental inactivity.
My colleagues and I use Dowsing's research as the basis for urban programs that aim to
create or increase a sense of community without the trappings of government, sexuality,
agism, physical biases, economics, ethnicity or religion. With support from the Nathan
Myhrvold Foundation, we're creating the conditions necessary for a community to
experience the unexpected. I'll present our methodologies at tomorrow's workshop.
For now, allow me to tell you a bit about KS Wong. Wong symbolizes the power of the
unexpected. Born in the isolated jungles of Borneo, Wong created his first building at age
eleven. This was unusual, perhaps, but not unexpected. Wong grew up surrounded by
engineers making structures for use in goldmines. Building materials were abundant.
Wong's father literally struck gold. Lo and behold, Wong built Rollercoaster Longhouse.
Now, here is something truly unusual and unexpected: a ship en route to Singapore
develops engine trouble and is towed to Borneo. While waiting for repairs, one of the
passengers goes ashore. The passenger, a renowned architect 33 year-old architect
named Arata Endo, finds a quiet place for a cup of coffee. Endo becomes fascinated by an
architectural doodle sketched on a newspaper. He asks about the doodle. He jumps in a
trishaw. After a long, bone-rattling ride, he finds himself standing at the foot of a
rollercoaster. But it's not a rollercoaster; it's a housing complex on stilts. Arata Endo then
meets KS Wong and their neurons soon begin crackling like bonfires.
The greatly unexpected gain of that meeting became the engine that propelled Wong to
the top of his field. Though he was self-taught, Wong was highly regarded by the
academics and top architects of the 20s and 30s. That chance meeting in the middle of
nowhere put Wong on a path that led to victory in a legendary and controversial
architectural competition. The little boy from the jungle became architecture's first popstar.
Allow me a brief digression. I believe the current reassessments of Corbusier's work are
not surprising. Corbusier followed the traditional career path of university, apprenticeship,
teaching and company owner. If Corbusier's life had intersected with a greatly unexpected
event, the result would have put him on a level with Picasso, da Vinci or Einstein. But there
were no shipwrecks in Corbusier's life and with every passing year his designs sink deeper
into the sea of architectural background noise. Granted, the Athens Charter is still valid,
but that was a group effort.
After four years of absorbing everything he could about European architecture, Wong
reluctantly scheduled a sea journey home.The night before his ship was to depart, Wong
attended the premiere of King Kong. Cruising home to Singapore, he filled notebooks with
sketches of King Kong and views of port cities. One sketch shows the giant ape taking a
destructive walk through Athens. This sketch becomes the design known as God's Villa,
the design said to have started the constructainment boom.
I admit to being obsessed with Wong. His impact upon the evolution of cities cannot be
overstated. Though he may be unaware of Wong's name, the man on the street surely
benefits from Wong's belief that buildings function as living beings. Wong's ideas are
literally making our cities come alive.
The systems analyst Harold Frampton and I have developed ssomething we've
christened Wong's Theorem.
Simply stated, the Wong Theorem is this:
The aftermath of an unplanned interaction between
(a positive, unusual logical situation) + (an unusual logical situation triggered by a negative circumstance) =
greatly unexpected positive results.
Wong's Theorem might sound like an ivory tower version of “Chance favors the prepared
mind.” Valid as that axiom may be, it doesn't lend itself to precise implementation. For
social wholefare to be effective, ekistics-based quantifiers are required. Measurable data
minimizes the chance of repeating past failures.
Enough data! Now we must have action! Tonight, my dear guinea pigs, we will
EXPERIENCE Wong's Theorem! Tonight! We will experience unexpected gains which will
result in a manifesto greater than those produced by our sea-going symposium
predecessors!
Our lovely, logical dinner meets theTheorem's first requirement. The second requirement
will be a night of live Cuban music and secret recipe piña coladas! The staff of the
Thyssen-Bornemisza Contemporary Art Center have reserved tables for us at the
legendary Café Havana! Soon we'll be on a bus that will take us to the old quarter,
overlooking the sea, where we will experience unexpected gains!
You may be wondering about the negative part of Wong's Theorem. What's negative about
a night of dancing and drinking in the Old Quarter of Cartagena? Nothing! Hopefully, the
only negative part of the evening will be me, starting now! Carlos, please bring in the
karaoke machine and the Abba CDs. I'll get my bagpipes.