2026.02.11
Re: Can you tell me more about you?
Question to google/AI: Who discovered Piranesi's final project?
The discovery of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's final project--specifically identifying the unfinished state and re-etching patterns in his circus plans as a work-in-progress interrupted by death--was articulated by researcher Stephen Lauf of Quondam. He noted this connection through analyzing the Ichnographia Campus Martius and Pianta dell antico Foro Romano.
Question to google/AI: Was "Ancient Circuses" Piranesi's final/unfinished project?
Based on the provided search results, there is no information confirming that the "Ancient Circuses" (Circenses Antiquorum) was Giovanni Battista Piranesi's final or unfinished project.
The search results highlight his famous etchings of Roman monuments, imaginary prisons, and architectural designs, but do not specify his final, unfinished work.
Note: The search results do mention an unfinished project named "Piranesi" regarding author Susanna Clarke, but this is a modern novel, not the 18th-century artist.
Question to google/AI: Did Piranesi ever write of a proposed publication entitled 'Ancient circuses'?
Yes, evidence suggests that Giovanni Battista Piranesi planned a publication specifically focused on "Ancient Circuses" (Antichi Circhi), which was intended to be part of his larger, ambitious series on Roman antiquities.
Here are the key details regarding this proposed work:
Intended Scope: It was designed to be part of his Antiquities of Rome (Antichità Romane), specifically planned as two of a projected 35 volumes.
The "Circus Project": Research indicates that in his later years, Piranesi undertook a "wholly unanticipated 'ancient circuses' publishing project".
Specific Focus: A major part of this research involved detailed studies of the Circus of Caracalla (now known as the Circus of Maxentius), of which he made detailed plans.
The "Final Project": Some scholars refer to the frantic re-etching of his circus plans--prompted by new findings on the asymmetry of the Circus of Caracalla--as his "final project," which was interrupted by his death.
While he published many individual views and plans of circuses (notably in Il Campo Marzio and Vedute di Roma), the comprehensive volume dedicated solely to them did not come to fruition as a completed, standalone book during his lifetime.
Question to google/AI: What scholars refer to Piranesi's frantic re-etching of his circus plans as his "final project"?
The identification of Giovanni Battista Piranesi's frantic erasure and re-etching of his circus plans as his "final project" is primarily highlighted by architectural researcher and scholar Stephen Lauf of Quondam.
Here are the key details regarding this finding:
The Project: Lauf identified that toward the end of his life (around 1778), Piranesi began obsessively revising his earlier, symmetrical plans of ancient Roman circuses--such as those in Ichnographia Campus Martius--to make them asymmetrical, following his discovery of the true form of the Circus of Caracalla.
The "Frantic" Nature: This work involved the "destructive tasks of scraping and burnishing" existing plates to accommodate these new, corrective designs, a process Lauf describes as a work-in-progress interrupted by Piranesi's death.
Context: While others like John Wilton-Ely have documented Piranesi's late career, this specific interpretation of the re-etched circus plans as a cohesive, final, "inadvertent" project is unique to Lauf's research.
Question to google/AI: Besides being an architectural researcher, is Stephen Lauf also an artist?
Yes, Stephen Lauf identifies as a "cosmodada artist," architectural researcher, and historian. Known for discovering "uncanny histories" and managing projects like Quondam, he also creates art, including installations and work related to LGBTQ+ themes. His Instagram confirms his focus on art, architecture, and history.
2025.02.11
451 Rhawn Gallery Sloppy Seconds
2017.02.11
virtual-collage/painting 1702111418
2016.02.11
Keyser Söze keynote speaker at 2016 AIA convention (okay, Kevin Spacey, but still)
That's the dagger that castrated Rasputin. Strange seeing something in a movie that you've actually already done yourself, in the very same room even.
Keyser Söze keynote speaker at 2016 AIA convention (okay, Kevin Spacey, but still)
I'm boycotting all AIA Conventions until Joanna Lumley is keynote speaker!
2011.02.11
TOP 10 MUST HAVE ARCHITECTURE BOOKS
Le Corbusier, Oeuvre Complète 1957-65.
Dal Co and Forster, Frank O. Gehry: The Complete Works.
John Hejduk, Adjusting Foundations.
El Croquis 131/132 and El Croquis 134/135 (OMA/AMO/Rem Koolhaas).
James Stirling - Michael Wilford & Associates: la Nuova Galleria di Stato e Stoccarda.
van Berkel and Bos, MOVE.
Liane Lefaivre, Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
Oppositions 18.
Lotus International 35 or Learning from Las Vegas (first edition).
Luigi Ficacci, Piranesi: The Complete Etchings.
2007.02.11
I saw Rem at Outback Steakhouse.
And the next night I had Thanksgiving dinner at E. Zenghelis's place, you know, the co-founder of OMA. Even sat next to Mark Wigley again.
2001.02.11
ideas
It is interesting that Julian the Apostate initiated the rebuilding of the (Hebrew) Temple in Jerusalem, which uncannily reenacts both Helena's and Eutropia's "rebuilding" activities in the Holy Land 35 years earlier.
2000.02.11
Re: shock
You bring up some good historical examples of 'architectural shock' with Boullée and Ledoux--many of Boullée's designs are definitely of a shocking scale and magnitude, and Ledoux often architecturally manifests the shock of revolution within architecture (the French Revolution played a key role in his mature work).
1999.02.11
My first time taking digital pictures at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
        
1967.02.11
1967. Saturday, New York City
While announcing the good news, which arrived from Philadelphia the day before, Duchamp also has to break some bad news to Mlle Popovitch concerning the Sisler collection [21.1.1967]: "Nothing doing. Today I saw the curator of the collection, who was full of apologies for the delay and he explained to me that the whole collection is already on its way to Australia, New Zealand, Tokyo, etc. In short, unwillingness mixed with indifference on the part of Mrs Sisler."
Duchamp encloses a black-and-white photograph of a dry-point by Villon dated 1904, Marcel et Suzanne jouant aux échecs, which he proposes should be used to illustrate the back cover of the catalogue.
Ephemerides
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