1. Historical Re-Evaluation: A New Synopsis of the whom we will encounter in a moment, detested Homer for THE CHICAGO SCHOOL: LARGE-SCALE Chicago School his little girls in sunbonnets, but he lauded the drawings for their sense of realism. Maybe the aquarelle, with its hasty Chicago’s most rapid urban growth dates back to a time technique, was itself a medium immediately suited to rep- in US history when the university landscape, shaken by resent imperfection, for which Homer was initially criticized DISSEMINATION AND RECEPTION business cycles and political crises, awakened in a quest of but later beloved. Around the same time in France, impres- self-determination that made the universities fertile ground sionist artists used heavy brushstrokes in their paintings for the emergence of new academic traditions and new to break contours and render life as eternal change. And in schools of thought. Many American students still crossed Britain, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace’s theory the Atlantic to secure themselves the privileges of European of evolution explained that life is nothing but eternal forma- degrees. But in the US, new educational programs were tion, imperfection, and struggle for existence. founded all over the place, often sponsored by entrepreneurs who made their fortunes with practical, though unlikely, How, then, did these ideas of endless youth and formation inventions. Reapers and refrigerator cars told unexpected shape Chicago’s schools of thought and architecture? The stories about the American cities of immigrants, the meaning of the term “Chicago school” itself evolved over the Great Lakes, planes, rivers, and the gold-rich slopes along course of time, and no philosophy or architectural style is the Pacific coasts. Discovering America was more than its final expression. In 1879, a local newspaper speculated: Abstract Author explorers sighting new lands from a caravel that crossed “Before Chicago attains a complete success in architecture, Dan Costa Baciu the oceans. What seemed a 15th century dream come true it must have a school of its own.”" Yet, neither the school The Chicago school of architecture is the theme of this symposium UC Santa Barbara had beautiful as well as dreadful consequences that no was immediately established, nor was it clear what ideas it publication, yet, is this theme not a Gordian knot of history that one individual fully comprehended. This sense of collective would eventually embody. For an entire decade, until 1889, can only tighten and never unwind? Since the 1960s, many architec- discovery, independence, and learning is the spirit in which the Chicago Sketch Club repeatedly attempted to establish the Chicago school was born. an educational program in architecture, for example at tural historians have felt frustrated when interpreting the meaning Northwestern University. Dankmar Adler, partner at Adler Already in 1850, physicians spoke of a Chicago school. of the term “Chicago school” because it seemed fragmented and too & Sullivan, was present at one of the Sketch Club’s decisive The small city of less than thirty thousand inhabitants had meetings, the proceedings of which have survived in ambiguous. However, would this seemingly troubling ambiguity not gone through dreadful epidemics that left behind a desire the pages of a newspaper. He asserted that the funding be a significant and all the more interesting phenomenon to study? for improvement. The board of health was established, and for a school of architecture was unachievable. How does such a world of parallel variants and alternatives come into so were the first medical programs. The city needed more existence? Is history shaped by just one or by multiple simultaneous trained physicians. However, the medical establishment of Somewhat independent from the Sketch Club’s e!orts, the East did not always approve of the Western develop- Louis Millet, whom Adler & Sullivan employed for the authors, and by the changing tastes of their audiences? In this lec- ments. Chicagoans defended themselves explaining that interior of their famous Auditorium Theatre, taught archi- ture, I attempt to answer exactly these questions. The lecture revisits they had adapted academic standards to pressing social tecture at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning with 1886. the meaning of the term Chicago school in the public discourse, and needs. The “Chicago school,” as these advocates called their His classes laid the foundation for the educational program it proposes a new theory to interpret questions of ambiguity, poly- emerging school of thought, was an attempt to address that was called the Chicago School of Architecture in 1893. real-world problems that, in the eyes of the Midwesterners, The name was discontinued only half a century later, in 1939, semy, and semantic change. How did writers and readers shape the were insu!iciently recognized elsewhere. a year after Ludwig Mies van der Rohe came to Chicago to meaning of the Chicago school? And why did the term persist and reform the program. We shall return to this event later in this Because of tensions between the East and the West, section. Back in the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago’s architects prevail undisturbed by historical breaks? In light of the new theory, Chicagoans often stressed the uniqueness of their environ- finally succeeded in their longstanding goal of establish- it can be concluded that the Chicago school did not rise to fame ment. However, as mentioned before, the zeitgeist of the ing a new school of architecture. Alas, was this program Chicago school was also present in the broader American because someone in the nineteenth century foresaw the future, doomed to be inferior to Paris, MIT, or nearby Urbana? and European context. For example, Chicago was occasion- but because large-scale dissemination and reception transforms What did Chicago uniquely o!er? ally personified as a young city in its pains of growth. Youth indivi dual creativity into collective strategy. symbolized formation, imperfection, and a sense of adven- ture, and it did so much beyond Chicago, especially just after the Civil War. Mark Twain and Howard Pyle enjoyed great success in the 1870s and 1880s when they experimented with the literary genre of the bildungsroman, a type of novel that recounts the formation of a young protagonist. Their major pieces—The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood—featured street children and young outcasts as their protagonists, who, although portrayed as heroes, were far from being flawless. Around the same time, Winston Homer’s aquarelles, many of which depict children, were among the most inspiring works of American art. Henry James, the famed writer, critic, and brother of William James

Notes

1. Chicago Times, “Architectural,” 9.

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 21 Witnessing the construction boom and the educational Over the course of time, these early foundational ideas e!orts of the 1880s, the architect and critic Henry Van Brunt came to form the common ethos of the Chicago school. In addressed these questions in a lengthy article.# He endorsed 1939, fifty years after Van Brunt published his essay, Sigfried his Midwestern peers for their o!ice and theater buildings, Giedion’s historiography of the Chicago school built on this calling their design approaches an emerging “school” of same set of ideas. Giedion, as well as his student and inter national reputation. Among the builders that Van Brunt hist orian Bruno Zevi, posited that the Chicago school first mentioned by name, one can find many of the great firms overcame the dichotomy of art and technology on an that erected early Chicago skyscrapers: Burnham & Root, urban scale. Adler & Sullivan, Holabird & Roche, etc. In particular, Van Another fifty years later, in 1989, Friedrich Hayek’s ideas Brunt lauded their many tall o!ice buildings and theaters, about dispersed knowledge fueled political change that led such as the Auditorium Theatre, to which Millet had contrib- to the fall of the Berlin wall, as well as numerous revolutions uted interior decorations so important to bring art closer to in the countries politically dominated by the former Soviet the masses of spectators. As in previous decades, Chicago’s Union. Hayek had taught and researched in Chicago during school again was an answer to social needs. This time it some of his best years, and his ideas about dispersed knowl- was the human need for architecture and culture, rather edge found good substance of research in the city. After than medicine. all, Van Brunt’s work shows that Chicago’s history makes Van Brunt explained in his essay of 1889 that the inter- dispersed knowledge very much visible to the naked eye. national merit of Chicago’s “school of architecture” was Maybe then, the Chicago school is unique in its sustained grounded in the local circumstances and in new approaches attempts to explain self-organization. Over the course of a to design. Firms in and around the city united art and tech- century, from architecture to politics, and from the United nology in a way unthinkable in the East. Later, Louis Sullivan States to Europe and beyond, the foundational ideas of the theorized abundantly on this problem. With his dictum Chicago school were iterated, reiterated, and reinterpreted “form follows function,” Sullivan initially proclaimed the across the disciplines. need for a synthesis of art and technology in the presence 1.1 Struggles for Existence of newly emerging social needs. Figure 1a: A.D.F. Hamlin’s “Chicago School.” From left: Fisher Building, Chicago; Guaranty Building, Buffalo; Majestic Building, Detroit. The history of the Chicago school was never fully foresee- (Source: Ryerson and Burnham Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago.) Sullivan’s ideas were also inspired by the theory of evolution, able ahead of time and does not go without dissent and so popular around the time. Architects in the late-twentieth drama, just like evolution does not go without trial, error, and century often missed this point, yet it was the theory of competing variants. In 1939, Sigfried Giedion held the view evolution that instilled the wish in Chicago’s architects to that the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 had been overcome the dichotomy of art and technology. For archi- a dull episode for the Chicago school. This interpretation tecture to be a lively art in a lively society, as Van Brunt and had its own historical roots and sheds new light on debates Sullivan desired, architecture had to evolve, like nature surrounding the Chicago school. evolved, from a process in which there was little need to distinguish between art and technology. Daniel Burnham, one of the most influential architects of early skyscrapers, became the master architect of the Liveliness in this context meant interplay, joint authorship, World’s Columbian Exposition. However, after the untimely and inspiration drawn from vernacular architecture. Life death of his o!ice partner, he radically departed from the was not to be searched for in individuals in isolation, but in foundational ideas of the Chicago school. Instead of letting communication, exchange, and dispersed knowledge. At an architectural style evolve on its own, as it had evolved multiple instances in his text, Van Brunt praised the work in the city, Burnham decided to impose a style that recon- in the Midwest as an “unconscious” product of civilization.$ firmed the dominance of the Parisian Academy of Fine Arts. Design in Chicago involved draftsmen, interior designers, investors, builders, and users alike. In other words, design This decision seemed a break with the spirit of the Chicago relied on decentralized decisions, which made the new school. A newspaper editor mocked in 1893 that the prac- architectural style unconsciously evolve on its own. titioners of the “Chicago school of architecture” were not chosen to build the exposition.% Van Brunt agreed, he wrote Besides evolution as a source of unconscious change, the the same year that the “new school” was to be found in the interest in the unconscious may also have been grounded city, but not at the fair.& Finally, William James wrote to his in William James and Sigmund Freud’s contemporary brother that he decided not to visit the Chicago fair although appreciation of unconscious brain processes. No wonder, everyone seemed crazy about it. Later, the letter was promi- the unconscious seemed so intriguing to Van Brunt. In a nently published on the last page of James’s first volume nutshell, Chicago’s school was a synthesis of theory and of correspondence.' practice, and it solved tensions between individuals and collectives in the light of a modern view of life. Despite the Chicago fair, Van Brunt’s school was not abandoned. A.D.F. Hamlin, the first lecturer in architectural history at Columbia University, mentioned the Chicago school in all of the five reprints of his textbook that appeared

2. Van Brunt, 5. Van Brunt, “Architecture at the World’s Figure 1b: A.D.F. Hamlin’s “Eastern School.” From left: Ames Building, Boston; Broadway Chambers Building, New York; American Surety “Architecture in the West,” 772–784. Columbian Exposition — III,” 88. Building, New York. Compared to the Eastern School, the buildings of the Chicago School were more utilitarian, with vertical lines rising from the street level all the way up to the roof. Hamlin praised this as a bold design solution. (Source: Ryerson and Burnham Archives, 3. Van Brunt, 6. James, The Letters of William James in the Art Institute of Chicago.) “Architecture in the West,” 772–784. Two Volumes, 348.

4. Abbot, “The Makers of the Fair: A Family Paper.”

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 23 between 1900 and 1907.( Hamlin was born in Turkey to Hamlin may also be regarded as an exceptional thinker There is also a forgotten letter that tells us whom Giedion American parents, which gave him an international back- when it comes to using data to evaluate trends in architec- truly agreed with.) At Holabird & Roche (by that time ground. His textbook of the history of architecture was ture. In 1900, he used a survey in an attempt to understand renamed to Holabird and Root; I continue using the previous originally published in 1896, but Hamlin kept it up-to-date which was the architectural style favored by the general name for convenience), Giedion spoke to Frank D. Long, an during his entire career. His textbook was the first and, for public. It seemed that all styles were almost equal in this architect who was well informed about the Chicago World’s many years, also the best such work written in the United respect. Of course, Van Brunt, Ware, and Hamlin had their Fair of 1893. Long moved to Chicago about 1891, at age 26, States. It played a role similar to Giedion’s Space, Time and personal preferences when they built. They frequently chose after studying architecture at the University of Illinois. He Architecture three decades later. The book culminated in a a Romanesque close to the precursors of the Chicago school. initially worked for the Chicago fair and later continued a series of chapters on modern American architecture, and Hamlin, though, devoted most of his time to teaching, lifelong career at Holabird & Roche, passing away only a few its potential international significance. in particular to teaching history. months after Giedion met him. In these concluding chapters of Hamlin’s textbook, the Three decades later, Sigfried Giedion confirmed the rele- Naturally, Giedion chose to trust this elderly Mr. Long (the term “Chicago school” appears in the context of tall o!ice vance of architectural history for a new generation of prac- first name is not mentioned) and not the younger Tom, or buildings. A group of Midwestern practitioners successfully titioners and urban planners that had previously attempted the even younger NCARB, for that matter. The exchange integrated the engineer’s work in the façades of their high- to break with the past. Even more frequently than Hamlin, between Long and Giedion explains, in one single stroke, rises, as opposed to the “Eastern school” that focused on Giedion lectured and wrote on the “Chicago school” claim- many open questions that hitherto remained unanswered artistic expression in the tradition of the Parisian Academy ing that it was the first large synthesis of art and technology. as Giedion’s letter to Long lurked among countless Giedion of Fine Arts (figures 1a–b). The Midwest emanated the aura papers at ETH Zurich on the other side of the ocean. And Giedion never met Hamlin, who passed away in 1926. The of artistic freedom and of a central place in the middle of the Long, who had passed away before answering the letter, story is also somewhat complicated by the fact that Hamlin continent that amalgamated trends and allowed architects had no followers other than Giedion. discontinued using the term “Chicago school” in his text- to experiment with new, promising, and useful solutions. book after 1908. That year, Thomas Tallmadge came up with Long’s view was close to Van Brunt’s in that he believed that Later, the Chicago architect and architectural historian his divergent definition of “Chicago school,” while Hamlin the fair was not representative of the Chicago school. To Thomas Tallmadge wrote that Hamlin opened the eyes to wrote his article “The Influence of the Ecole des Beaux Arts support this position, which did not seem obvious to every- countless students, and that his book became influential on [American] Architectural Education.” one in 1939, Long cited the passage in which William James in establishing the study of modern architectural history at wrote to his brother that he did not wish to visit the Chicago American universities. Although Hamlin credited the influence of the “French fair. The passage substantiated that Long was not alone to school” on what he collectively called the “American school,” Hamlin was indirectly connected to Van Brunt through despise the architectural style of the fair. he witnessed that the French school was no longer true to William Ware, Van Brunt’s first o!ice partner (and William its origins. The term “Cartouche architecture” had become In a follow-up correspondence, Giedion thanked Long for James’s acquaintance from Harvard). Ware founded a common byword in New York, standing for heartless presenting his view of the “Chicago school,” and he asked the first program in architecture in the United States at decoration. The American line of “scientific” architecture for the source of the quotation; Giedion was impressed that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Later, when had outgrown the French school, so Hamlin wrote, predict- Long, an elderly architect by that time, had quoted James Ware left Massachusetts for New York to start a new ing that a time would come when it would be the turn of the from memory. This encounter convinced Giedion, who wrote program in architecture at Columbia, he employed Hamlin, French students to cross the Atlantic and experience the in his letter: “I very much enjoyed your personal touch in his former student from MIT. American freedom of spirit, design, and science. Giedion telling me the history of the Chicago school.” In December At Columbia University, Hamlin taught architectural quoted this article at a critical point, making it doubtless 1938, Giedion did not use the term Chicago school for history while Ware taught design. And Hamlin’s textbook that he knew of “Prof. Hamlin.” Chicago’s early skyscrapers. After meeting Long in January of architectural history can be seen as the counterpart to 1939, he did. It is all the more striking that architectural historians have Ware’s manual on architectural rendering. Ware held that never considered Hamlin a potential source for Giedion. Figure 2a (from top): Adler & Sullivan, Auditorium building, Chicago Evidently, during his exchange with Long, Giedion chose the the work of architects was “midway” between that of artists These historians forgot that Hamlin had written about the 1889; Adler & Sullivan, Schiller building, Chicago 1892. (Source: term “Chicago school” and made up his mind on what the and engineers. Maybe midways and syntheses were what Ryerson and Burnham Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago.) Chicago school between 1900 and 1907, and that Tallmadge school’s most important values were. Later, in Space, Time made American education productive beyond Chicago. wrote that the idea of the Chicago school had come from the and Architecture, Giedion recounted his Chicago encounter: In comparison to Paris, where students learned to draw East, which gives Hamlin additional relevance as a source. During his first stay in Chicago, Giedion visited many exquisite aquarelles, at Columbia, exuberant artistry was buildings, companies, and institutions, and he spoke with “While I was in Chicago, one architect, [here first sometimes associated with deceit. In America, the drawings In addition, in January 1939, the famous preservationist historians and architects alike. If his notebooks are correct, reconstructed as Frank D. Long], who had worked of successful students may have had more of the freshness Charles E. Peterson put Giedion in contact with Talbot he met at least one hour with Tallmadge and nicknamed on [the Chicago fair] quoted from memory the rather of Homer’s watercolors around the same time, although Hamlin, A.D.F.’s son who, like his father, was a professor at him “TOM.” The local historian had departed from Hamlin’s ironical comment of William James: ‘Everyone says accuracy and science were highly valued. Hamlin not only Columbia. The younger Hamlin established the Avery Index Chicago school. He did no longer use the term for skyscrap- one ought to sell all one has and mortgage one’s soul loved watercolors (figure 1c), but also wrote an article that and wrote his own textbook of architectural history. Giedion ers, and in this matter, Giedion silently disagreed. to go [to the fair ...].’ [...] The lonely American voices explains how to draw accurate shadows. and Hamlin, and their wives, became lifelong friends. raised against the unexampled seduction of the Consequently, Giedion also disagreed with the National public taste underlying the Fair’s pseudo-splendor Giedion’s first public talks provided a well-chosen palette Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). The went unheard.”* of early high-rises. His later lectures sometimes focused on NCARB mailed a letter to Giedion stating that his and his Adler & Sullivan’s Auditorium building, mentioned before friend Moholy-Nagy’s use of the term “Chicago school” was Long had passed away by the time these lines were pub- (figures 2a–b). An enormous structure for its times, the a “monumental error.” lished, but his voice was no longer unheard. It is through Auditorium building was simultaneously a theater, hotel, Long that Giedion quoted William James in Space, Time and o!ice building. It was a home for the arts and an early and Architecture. The words and punctuation were accu- skyscraper. Art and technology were physically united. rately taken from the last page of James’s first volume of correspondence. 7. Hamlin, A Text-book of the History of Architecture. Giedion’s notebooks, agenda, and letters give a good insight 8. Giedion, Letter to Holabird and Roche. into his activities in Chicago, but it is all the more important

9. Giedion, “Sullivan’s Prophecy,” to remember that the city looked very di!erent during those in Space, Time and Architecture. years. The largest group of recent skyscrapers dated from Figure 1c: One of many watercolors of vernacular architecture by the 1920s, and they were built in a style that somewhat A.D.F. Hamlin. (Source: Avery Library, A.D.F. Hamlin Papers.) continued the legacy of the Chicago fair and the Parisian

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 25 Figure 2b: Sigfried Giedion lecture slides for the Chicago school. (Sources: Ryerson and Burnham Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago; and Sigfried Giedion’s Space, Time and Architecture.)

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 27 Academy of Fine Arts that Giedion had criticized in his School of Architecture. The Chicago school had long A B previous essays written in Europe. In this urban context, attempted to unite art and technology in the United States. the earlier skyscrapers appeared more modern, and more Maybe this fact would serve the immigrants. Moholy-Nagy’s American. Though in reality, they were more dated. Chicago Bauhaus eventually became the Chicago School of Design. One should also remember that Mies had been When the Century of Progress fair took place in Chicago recommended by John A. Holabird, son of William Holabird, in 1933, New York’s newly established MoMA noted this the founder of Holabird & Roche, an o!ice featured in Van curious anachronism and praised the early skyscrapers Brunt’s article, and where Giedion spoke with Long. Thus, for their modernity. At MoMA, Philip Johnson and Henry- the connection that Giedion made between the European Russell Hitchcock based their work mostly on Tallmadge’s “Avantgarde” and the Chicago school and between art and research. Thus, the term “Chicago school” was not used technology had a deeper meaning. for the skyscrapers. Instead, Johnson preferred the term “skyscraper school of modern architecture.”"+ This term is Mies’s call to Chicago was also based on recommendations also in line with MoMA’s “international style.” Both avoid from architects such as David Adler. It might be interesting binding history to geographical places. The “Chicago school” here to juxtapose the creative use of the baroque axis at occasionally mentioned by the MoMA curators was mostly Castle Hill and Giedion’s book cover for Space, Time and Tallmadge’s school. Architecture that also makes creative use of the same motive of landscaping (figure 5). The spirit of modernization and Giedion’s historiography di!ers from the MoMA in that he modern art was not unique for the artists, designers, archi- returned to the term “Chicago school,” as Hamlin originally tects, and immigrants of the European Avantgarde. used it. Nevertheless, he further substantiated Johnson and Hitchcock’s line of thought by asserting that the modernist Although Giedion tried to assimilate, he nevertheless skyscraper designs of Walter Gropius and Mies van der perpetuated existing controversies. Not everyone agreed Rohe unconsciously continued the trajectory of the earlier with his and Long’s view of the Chicago fair. And since Chicago skyscrapers. A MoMA press release had pictured Hamlin’s days, the meaning of the term “Chicago school” the transition from brick to steel skyscrapers in Chicago had changed. In addition, not everyone liked immigrants, (figure 3). Giedion discussed a similar transition, though and there were other more tedious contentions. from a more artistic perspective (figure 4). One debate emerged from Giedion’s choice of expensive glossy paper. The e!orts he had undergone to collect the photographs (especially in Chicago) seemed to him worth the expense, but as a consequence, the book became much more expensive than regular Harvard productions, and this happened at a time of scarcity and war. Curiously, later historians forgot about this historic controversy and posited that Giedion could only make his argument about architec- C D E ture and flat surfaces credible because the photographs were not good enough. Precisely because of these controversies and partisanship, Giedion’s point about art and technology merits more elaboration. Next to the Bauhaus, the influence of the Vienna school is most palpable. For Giedion, such influences

Figure 3: Masonry and Steel Skyscraper Models at MoMA. were obvious. He was born in Prague, lived in Switzerland, (Source: Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Early Modern studied in Vienna, and traveled through Europe. Giedion’s Architecture: Chicago 1870–1910. New York: The Museum of Modern Art, work represents an international perspective that is not easy January 18–February 23, 1933.) to comprehend but is nevertheless fascinating.

The connection that Giedion made between art and technol- The Vienna school of art history and the Vienna Circle are ogy becomes rather complex in this context, stretching with not only contemporary to the early Chicago school, but, like Giedion’s career across the Atlantic. There were multiple the Chicagoans, the Viennese thinkers with their progres- obvious, as well as hidden artistic links between Europe and sive worldviews saw art and art history as inseparable from the Chicago school. Earlier in Europe, Giedion had written science and exact thinking. Thus, the flat surfaces and about the Bauhaus, lauding the institution for its attempts clean lines of modernist architecture were not regarded as to unite art and technology. In 1939, this very Bauhaus mere application of technology, but as a synthesis of art and was shattered by war and moved to America: Giedion’s technology (figure 6). friend Moholy-Nagy attempted to establish a new Bauhaus At Harvard, George K. Zipf wrote an article that was meant, in Chicago, and Mies had just been employed to reform in 1950, to continue this line of thought of the Vienna school. Chicago’s only educational program, namely the Chicago Giedion received the article already as a draft and read it.

10. Johnson, “The Skyscraper School of Furthermore, the historical connections between Chicago Figure 4: From the Chicago School to the Avantgarde. A) Early Avantgarde Project of Steel Skyscraper by Mies van der Rohe. Modern Architecture.” and Vienna are not just abstract but also physically present (Source: Sigfried Giedion, Space, Time and Architecture. Also used by Giedion as lecture slide.) B) The Swan Song of the Chicago School. through architects such as Adolf Loos and R. M. Schindler (Source: Ryerson and Burnham Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago.) C) Lake Shore Drive during construction. (Source: Chicago History Museum.) D) Chicago Lake Shore Drive by Mies van der Rohe. (Source: Ryerson and Burnham Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago.) as well as later social scientists such as Hayek. E) Book cover of Carl Condit’s The Chicago School of Architecture featuring the Reliance Building, from Giedion’s Library. (Source: ETH Zurich, GTA Archives, Sigfried Giedion Estate. Image by the author.)

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 29 The Chicago and Vienna schools illustrate that Mies’s own 1.2 New and Newer Schools writings expand upon a broader cultural context. His open- Already during the time of A.D.F. Hamlin’s “Chicago school,” ing address at the Chicago School of Architecture, as the the term found a number of new applications that remain in institute was still named at the time, dealt predominantly use today. William James, the Eastern academic who did not with his wish to unite art and technology. As already men- travel to Chicago to see the World’s Columbian Exposition, tioned above, such views were debated but not unknown. adapted the idea of the Chicago school to the work done Straight lines and flat surfaces were also present in other under John Dewey at the University of Chicago. contemporary American works, such as the transformation of a post o!ice building into the Santa Barbara Museum In 1903, the Department of Philosophy celebrated its decen- of Art completed by David Adler in 1941 (figure 7). Adler, nial with a publication that Dewey, as the department’s as mentioned before, was one of the figures to propose director, dedicated to James. The latter responded with an Mies for Chicago. essay aptly titled “The Chicago School.” In James’s words, the Chicago school was a “via media” between transcen- Late twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century historians dentalism and pragmatism. Thus, the famous philosopher sometimes disregarded this historical context and fre- continued and broadened the common ethos of earlier quently wrote that Giedion was primarily interested in Chicago schools as midways and syntheses. The Chicago technology. Likewise, Sullivan’s “form follows function” lost school solved tensions between theory and practice, and its artistic dimension in certain circles of architects, inves- between individuals and society. tors, and engineers, (see also Michael Golec’s lecture in this same volume). Then again, a Chicago-based writer recently James’s work and personality inspired many later Chicago returned to the older imagery, calling the Chicago school schools directly and indirectly. The Chicago School of Civics “a marvelous mix of reality and romance.”"" Thus, it can be and Philanthropy was founded in 1908 at the University of said that the history of the Chicago school really was eternal Figure 6: The Secession Building, Vienna. The front is left blank, Chicago, where it aimed to unite social work with social the- youth, formation, and struggle. In addition, the connections while the sides and back of the building are decorated. ory. The school became famous in the ensuing two decades, (Source: Bauindustrie-Zeitung 1899–1900.) between Europe and America, when it comes to synthesiz- continuing some of the earlier work of the Hull House on a ing art and technology, are so vast, that they would easily more academic and theoretical background. The Chicago break the format of this present article. schools of social science and symbolic interactionism are unthinkable without this history. Back in 1941, Giedion let his research flow into a chapter of Space, Time and Architecture, which despite the debates, Around this time, Robert E. Park, who studied under James became his most hailed and frequently reprinted book. at Harvard, became a founding figure for the Chicago school Carl Condit, a historian at Northwestern University, created of sociology. When he was appointed at the University of a whole new book, and then an expanded book, out of Chicago, Park made his name by showing that much of Giedion’s chapter (figure 4d). And in this context, again, Chicago’s urban growth was regular in spite of the absence the term Chicago school acquired new senses. of a master plan. The only real master plan of Chicago was the land ordinance that crosses almost the entire United In 1952 and 1954, Condit and Giedion witnessed a new States. However, Chicago could be split into concentric construction boom and started speaking of a newer “new zones that stand in sharp formal contrast to the rectangular school,” (Van Brunt had already used the phrase “new grid of the land ordinance. school” in 1893). Ludwig Hilberseimer, who had followed Mies to Chicago and whose project for a skyscraper city Chicago’s concentric zones emerged in decentralized in 1924 could be seen as a European counterpart of the decision-making processes. Park realized that the city owed Chicago school, also continued along those lines. Other its orderliness to social forces rather than the land ordinance significant contributions came from Colin Rowe and, in or the Burnham plan. This latter document of urban plan- Italy, from Manfredo Tafuri, who might have been inspired ning, the main designer of which was the famous architect by Bruno Zevi. The connection to Italy might also have whom we have already met in the context of the Chicago fair, been strengthened by Condit’s book, published in Italian did not envisage such regularities. The Burnham plan was under the title La Scuola di Chicago: Nascita e Sviluppo del often lauded for its beautiful aquarelles, but it was equally Grattacielo [The Chicago School: Birth and Development criticized for ignoring the need of residential zones. of the Skyscraper]. Around the same time, Condit gave his Yet another related Chicago school emerged in economics auspices for the establishment of the Chicago School of as late as the 1950s and 1960s. Milton Friedman is probably Architecture Foundation—yet another new Chicago school. Figure 5: Undulating Baroque Axes. Top: Castle Hill with baroque one of the best-known exponents of this school, the mem- axis and blue ocean, landscape by the Olmsted brothers; architecture As the many Chicago schools evolved side-by-side, hetero- bers of which have won many Nobel prizes. Their approach by David Adler (Source: Wikipedia). Bottom: Book cover for geneity and ambiguity accumulated. But was this endless became famous for its rigor in testing theory against empir- Space, Time and Architecture Sigfried Giedion’s with a baroque axis formation beneficial or detrimental to the Chicago school in red superimposed by a blue, curved highway (Source: Herbert Bayer ical data, as well as proposing ways in which individual cover for Sigfried Giedion’s Space, Time and Architecture. at large? decisions come together in decentralized decision-making Photo by the author). processes and from e!icient, free markets. Hayek’s time at the University of Chicago was associated with these ideas as well. The Chicago school of economics was an outgrowth 11. Pridmore, “Chicago Architecture.”12. Howells, “Certain of the Chicago School of the doubtlessly larger school of sociology. Figure 7: Top image is Oscar Wenderoth and Francis Wilson Postal of Fiction,” 740–746. Office, 1914. Bottom image is remodel by David Adler to Santa Barbara In turn, these schools branched and formed other schools Museum of Art, 1941. (Source: Santa Barbara Museum of Art.) of thought. The Chicago school of sociology received a counterpart at the UCLA, known for the polycentric model of the city; and the Chicago school of economics left its traces in the so-called “Chicago school of the west.”

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 31 Taken together, there are multiple Chicago schools of it was John Holabird, the son of William Holabird, who chose dissertation. Peisch answered that the title of the diss- At this point, this observation can be interpreted as one of philosophy, sociology, economics, Friedman, Park, etc., and Mies to reform the school. ertation was “The Chicago School and Walter Burley many curiosities of history. If the reader of these lines wishes they have three main things in common: They are related Gri!in,” but he was unable to send a copy. Later, in 1962, to do so, please stop here. However, if you feel unsatisfied However, where there are many minds, there are many ways. to work done in the various departments of the University the University of Chicago Press asked Peisch to peer-review with this interpretation, please continue reading. The history In 1908, Thomas Tallmadge, the school’s lecturer in archi- of Chicago; their exponents tested theory against empirical a manuscript by UCSB’s David Gebhard titled “The Prairie of the Chicago school is so rich that revisiting it can only tectural history, redefined the meaning of the term Chicago data; and they proposed ways in which decentralized Spirit in Architecture.” Peisch questioned the terms “Prairie lead us to interesting observations. To interpret these obser- school, slightly departing from all previous definitions. He decision-making and individual psychology result in social spirit” and “Prairie architect,” favoring “Chicago school” vations, this present article formulates and tests hypotheses. mentioned Sullivan as a key figure, but mostly referred to trends, spatial distributions, and free markets. These instead. Finally, Peisch’s own dissertation appeared in However, to formulate hypotheses, we must first formulate Frank Lloyd Wright and a group of colleagues who built schools currently form the largest and best-known group an edited form in 1964 under the main title “The Chicago questions that we later answer: suburban mansions. Walter Burley Gri!in was one of the of Chicago schools today. The branch initially grew from School of Architecture.” architects often mentioned among the champions of this Why did the Chicago schools require a century of formation William James’s Chicago school of 1904. separate branch of the Chicago school. By circumstance, Carl Condit’s edited book on the Chicago to only become popular in the second part of the twentieth Around the same time, the Chicago school branched in a school also appeared the same year under the same main century? How is it that the Chicago schools are present in so Tallmadge’s generation became particularly influential in the di!erent direction. In 1903, the realist writer William Dean title. The first edition had been published in 1952. Against many disciplines, yet share a common ethos? Why did the rise of architectural licensing first established in the state of Howells wrote an article titled “Certain of the Chicago Condit’s wish, the editor at the University of Chicago Press phrase “Chicago school of architecture” become so suddenly Illinois in 1898. It is this latter success story that was known School of Fiction.” Howells constructed his narrative around had chosen the title The Rise of the Skyscraper. However, in fashionable, only to disappear, and then return and disap- to the NCARB when it corresponded with Giedion in 1939, Chicago’s writers and their literary characters that were 1964, with Condit having gained more recognition in archi- pear again and again? How could the schools of sociology disapproving of his use of the term Chicago school. “fine as frank,” and whose pure thought flew in fountains tectural history, the expanded book version finally received and economics outgrow architecture, although the latter of slang. Coincidentally, the alliteration on the letter “f” Nevertheless, attentive reading of Tallmadge’s article reveals the title initially intended by the author: The Chicago School had a longer history? Why are there so many similar schools seems to foretoken Sullivan’s later “form follows function.” that he tied his historiography to precursors. In particular, of Architecture. Peisch and Brooks showed their contempt, in sociology and economics, to begin with? Why does the In comparison to Boston, New York, and San Francisco, in he mentioned that the idea of the Chicago school had come which ended in a heated debate. Prairie school of architecture seem so di!erent from all other Chicago, commonplace people were rendered “so frankly, so from the East. Although Tallmadge did not provide an Chicago schools; why did it not spread across disciplines Although the fuel for this debate burned out very soon, the boldly, and yet so delicately defined, so unmistakably shown, unambiguous reference, A.D.F. Hamlin’s Chicago school can like the first school? flame was later reignited by an exhibition held at Chicago’s so undeniably true.”"# As we learned from Henry James, be reconstructed as a very likely source. After all, Tallmadge Museum of Contemporary Art: “100 Years of Architecture in To answer these questions, the next two sections develop realism was not limited to Chicago, but the mix of reality and regarded Hamlin as one of the greatest architectural histori- Chicago,” which left out much of the Prairie school. Over the a theory of cultural change and postulates how ideas are romance most profoundly fascinated Howells in the literary ans in the country."$ course of the ensuing decades, waves of public interest in shaped by large-scale dissemination and reception. A theory works of the Chicagoans. At this juncture, the historiography of this second Chicago the Chicago school of architecture alternated with periods is developed that allows for complex reasoning and puts The Chicago school of fiction is closely related to the school took an unexpected turn. Many architectural histo- of silence. In the end, the term “Prairie school” was favored technical terms such as “period of formation,” “foundational Chicago schools of television, radio, baseball broadcasting, rians forgot about A.D.F. Hamlin and held that Tallmadge for Tallmadge’s Chicago school. Furthermore, the Chicago idea,” and “common ethos” into a larger scientific context. art, and many more. Back in the 1950s, so goes the story, coined the term “Chicago school,” somewhat copying each School of Architecture Foundation changed its name to Dear reader, if you feel overwhelmed by the many Chicago Chicagoans said that New Yorkers thought television was other’s phrasing. The real story is very di!erent. Tallmadge’s Chicago Architectural Foundation, and historians began to schools there are, let me take you on a journey that will a lesser version of Broadway while Los Angeles made school came too late, and, for this reason, it stands apart disbelieve that the first Chicago school ever had a significant surprise you: movies, not TV shows. In response, the Chicago school of TV from most other Chicago schools. history prior to Giedion and Condit. Robert Bruegmann’s The Chicago school is a textbook case. Hamlin’s book that inspired Americans to buy sofas, sit down, and laugh with- essay, “The Myth of the Chicago School,” stands witness for In the 1950s and 1960s, a debate ensued. Around that discussed the Chicago school in 1900-1907 was a text- out expecting a pretentious presentation. Here, the trace of this perspective. Eventually, the Chicago school may have time, the historian Hugh Morrison, who made his name as book of international and American architectural history. realism of the Chicago school is imbued with comic and fun. become somewhat of an urban myth, as the public interest Sullivan’s biographer (Morrison had actually proposed a Giedion’s Space, Time and Architecture was based on a class in the Chicago school during the late twentieth century 1.3 The Prairie School of Architecture collective portrait of the Chicago school but the editor made taught at Harvard and became something of a textbook, too. eclipsed the school’s early history. The waves of history him write a monograph), taught at Dartmouth College. Yet, there is another sense, in which the Chicago school is a There are more Chicago schools than disciplines in washed away the memory of the earlier Chicago school. Although the college is quite a distance from Chicago, textbook case. It is a textbook case not just of architecture, Chicago’s universities. But the richest stock of Chicago Morrison had two notable students interested in the Chicago 1.4 From History to Theory but also of something else. This something else is some- schools may probably be found in architecture, where they school. The two adepts, Mark Peisch and H. Allen Brooks, thing much broader that makes the Chicago school appear are most deeply rooted. From the previous sections, an awkward historic curiosity later became advocates of Tallmadge’s Chicago school, and as something very common in life. becomes evident. The Chicago school of architecture As already mentioned before, the educational program they seem to have believed that exclusiveness made their was first encountered in the public discourse in the late The growth of the Chicago school as a new tradition, or as called Chicago School of Architecture emerged in 1893 from school more significant. Thus, they attempted to discredit nineteenth century, but it became famous only in the an urban myth, is surprisingly regular. Other things in life Millet’s e!orts. The Art Institute of Chicago joined forces the first school, occasionally employing normative and bitter second part of the twentieth century. Such a long period of grow in very similar ways. So, would that make the Chicago with the newly founded Armour Institute of Technology words such as “right” and “abuse” in their books and essays."% formation may seem di!icult to explain. It seems altogether school a textbook case of life? Life has no textbooks, but life (now IIT), in an attempt to unite art and technology. The deal During this time, even the correspondence between improbable that only the second part of the twentieth science does. Life evolves, and evolution can be studied; and was clear: The Art Institute o!ered art and flattered itself for Morrison and Peisch shows a somewhat tense personal century was favorable for the dissemination of the Chicago there are textbooks and textbook examples for many of the its large, state-of-the-art collection of casts, while Armour relationship. Peisch asked his professor’s approval for pub- school. Scholars in architectural history did not agree with processes that have been studied in the life sciences and o!ered engineering and mathematics. lishing a historical document that discredited Frank Lloyd each other in the second half of the twentieth century. in evolutionary dynamics. Despite the controversies around the Chicago fair, it can be Wright just after his death. Although this document was in Furthermore, the city of Chicago prospered in the late If we juxtapose the textbook case of evolutionary dynamics said that, over the course of the years, the Chicago School of Morrison’s favor, the experienced professor answered with a nineteenth century, but it witnessed economic distress to quantitative data on the Chicago school, the two look the Architecture remained rooted in the old vision of a unison of long letter concluding, “I have given generations of students in the late twentieth century. same. To understand why the two do not just look, but really art and technology as attested by Van Brunt. The yearbooks the ‘good’ picture of Wright, not the bad one. It has always Even more striking is the fact that late fame is a phenom- are the same, a little more brainwork and explanations are show that Burnham and Sullivan were among Van Brunt’s been a temptation to ‘get even’ with the old bastard—but I enon not unique to the Chicago school of architecture, but needed. Hopefully, this work leads us to both a new under- peers who went in and out of the school’s doors. Later, again, couldn’t—he’s too great an architect.”"& common to most of the Chicago schools. Most publications standing of the Chicago school and a new understanding 12. Howells, “Certain of the Chicago School 14. Brooks, “‘Chicago School’ Eventually the Journal of the Society of Architectural that reference the Chicago school were written after 1950. of cultural life at large. Would it not be fantastic to say: We of Fiction,” 740–746. Metamorphosis of a Term.” Peisch, Historians published Peisch’s letter to the editor in October Taken together, the Chicago schools diversified between have understood a recurrent process in the day-to-day, year- The Chicago School of Architecture: 13. Tallmadge, Early Followers of Sullivan and Wright, 3. 1961, which was the beginning of a fateful sequence 1850 and 1950, but they rose to fame only thereafter. This to-year, and decade-to-decade dynamics of new traditions, The Story of Architecture in America. of events. First, Carl Condit became aware of Peisch’s trend seems almost paradoxical. Notably, the same trend urban myths, and cultural life? 15. Peisch, Letter to Hugh Morrison, February 22, 1959. writings on the Chicago school. Thus, Condit sent Peisch it is not found in phrases such as “school,” “Chicago,” a letter mentioning that he was revising his own book on or “Chicago, Illinois.” the Chicago school, and he asked for the title of Peisch’s

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 33 2. Authors and Dissemination The quasispecies equation builds on the assumption that Thus, it has come to pass that people most closely associate This represents an analogy between nature and culture that information is exactly as well as approximately reproduced— genera and species with the domains of life. However, Wallace was possibly aware of. He started his evaluation of So many ideas and values are associated with the Chicago hence the name “quasi”-species, which literally means systematic thinking also is the basis for most other sciences, paradise birds with their many variant names such as “birds school that no dictionary definition can summarize them all, “approximately” reproduced species. If Shannon was right, humanities, digital humanities, and natural language of sun,” “birds of god,” and “dead birds.” Still, at the time and the human mind cannot consciously perceive them all at approximate reproduction also occurs during communi- processing. There are biological genera, but there are also when the theory of evolution was first formulated, little was the same time. Rather, the term “Chicago school” has many cation. Hence, the quasispecies equation logically applies literary genres. There are biological species, but there are known about genes other than the fact that the information senses, some of which are frequent while many others are to communication, too. However, a case can be made that also chemical species. that they stored was gradually transformed. rare. In this respect, the Chicago school is similar to many approximate reproduction occurs in many other processes other terms. Take the “Vienna school,”"' the “humanities,” or The theory of evolution expanded systematic thinking by The quasispecies equation builds on evolutionary theory, but present in human culture and cognition, such as the forma- “science.” Each of these terms has many senses. However, are explaining how the many varieties of life come into exis- it was formulated when it became possible to chemically tion and recall of memory, deliberate acts of creativity, ambiguity and polysemy not the opposites of accuracy and tence, and why they keep existing once they emerge. The analyze genetic information. This historical coincidence and even play. clarity? Why does culture have to cope with such vagaries? essays of Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin read at made people strongly associate this particular equation with There is an increasing amount of evidence that memories the Linnean Society in 1858, in which modern evolutionary physical chemistry. A chemical species refers to the ensem- Some interpreters of the Chicago school attempted to limit are rewritten every time they are recalled. This process theory was first publicized, both deal with variation in fixed ble of identical molecules, for example the species of all the term to one single definition, treating the heterogeneity may unconsciously lead to false memories that significantly physical environments. The titles read “On the Tendency of water molecules. The term quasispecies was coined to allow that they encountered as a cultural problem that, in their depart from the previous experience."* In addition, in many Varieties to Depart Indefinitely [...]” and “On the Variation for some additional variation. However, in the most generic minds, had to be abated. Similarly, but over a longer period acts of creativity, people may also consciously formulate of Organic Beings [...] .” However, the two authors may have formulation, the quasispecies equation does not apply only of time, authors of style guides lamented that their contem- new ideas by deliberate departure from previous knowledge. been quite aware that the principle of variation does not only to chemical quasispecies, but to processes of variation porary society degraded language and took culture down And furthermore, there is brainstorming, and even play: peo- apply to nature. and selection in general. The equation unites systematic with it."( Will ambiguity and polysemy lead the Chicago ple like to think out of the box, and kindergarteners involved thinking with the principle of variation, which, as already school, and for that sake the humanities and sciences at Famously, Wallace sent his manuscript to Darwin from the in the telephone game are curious to hear what comes out discussed above, applies to physics, nature, as well as large, into a much-feared cultural crisis? Malay Archipelago, where he was collecting rare specimens at the end of the line after a message is repeatedly whis- culture. Would that be a hint that the quasispecies equation of beetles and birds. Later, he wrote that the many living A similar point could be made from the perspective of com- pered from ear to ear. During all of these processes, informa- can be used to estimate how ideas flow and transform while varieties of so-called “paradise birds,” he found there, munication science. In his seminal paper of 1948, Claude tion is replicated sometimes exactly tough other times they are being disseminated in human culture? were something he could not explain without the theory of Shannon defined communication as “exact or approximate only approximately. evolution. A case can be made, that not only living birds, but reproduction of a message at a new point.”") The distinction It is obvious then, that the approximate reproduction of also their mythical counterparts in human fiction, such as between exact and approximate was crucial at the time information may lead to the formation of competing variants. the Greek phoenix, the Russian firebird and the Romanian because telecommunication was new and noisy. In this Let us formulate this idea as the “principle of variation.” This maiastra, come in many interrelated varieties that were broader context, Shannon coined the term “information principle shall state that in many processes in human culture, disseminated across the globe. entropy,” also referred to as “Shannon entropy.” information is exactly, as well as approximately, reproduced, “Entropy,” just like the other terms mentioned before, has giving way to variants, which people may later select from. many possible senses. Initially, the term was coined in The significance of this principle runs much deeper. physics. In any isolated physical system, entropy can only Noise Culture comes in many varieties. Even the term “varieties” accumulate. This is to say that all freely available energy Source itself has many senses. There are, for example, biological A is eventually dissipated, leading to a physical “dead state,” A. Claude Shannon laid as well as linguistic varieties. Charles Darwin, in his Origin in which nothing ever moves again. This phenomenon is down the classical of Species, began his chapter on natural selection with an known as the second law of thermodynamics, or the entropy framework for the study Information evaluation of the terms species and varieties. He recognized principle. Similarly, information entropy accumulates during of communication and Source Transmitter Receiver Destination how ambiguous their meaning was. Given the historic entropy in 1948-49. repeated transmission. However, does that mean that the context, this ambiguity is not surprising. There was plenty The exchange of approximate reproduction of information inevitably leads Received of time for the terms genus, species, and varieties to acquire a single message Message Signal Message to entropy and ambiguity as opposed to clarity and culture? Signal new senses. Already in antiquity, logicians were interested generates entropy . Is culture worn out by communication? in how it was possible to develop systematics in order to (Shannon 1948/49) The theory of dissemination proposed here leads to a quite study the many varieties of life and culture. Information di!erent conclusion. In particular, if multiple pieces of infor- The words genus and species, and even genetics, stem from B. The exchange of Sources Transmitters Receivers Destinations mation are exchanged in parallel, Shannon’s assumption the Aristotelian method of formulating definitions, namely many messages that information is exactly as well as approximately repro- by “genus and di!erentia.” Aristotle and his school defined in parallel accomodates Received Selected duced during communication translates into a new mathe- Message Signal the meaning of words, objects, ideas, and even memories variation-selection Signals Message matical model equivalent to the “quasispecies equation.” by evaluating what makes these items special. Thus, genus processes, which In this new light, large-scale communication is a process negate entropy stays for the commonalities between two definable objects; that negates entropy (figure 8). and accumulate di!erentia for their specific di!erences. From the beginning, B Variation Selection meaningful variants. genus and di!erentia applied very broadly to physics, nature, A close look at this equivalence reveals a remarkable bridge The equivalen process between nature and culture, and as one could only expect, and culture. And even today, this technique is applied across is found in the quasipecies Received Selected it also brings to light an entire parade of highly ambiguous, the sciences and humanities. Message Signal equation. Signals Message but equally useful words. In the times of Linnaeus, and of the Linnaean taxonomy, (Baciu 2017-2018) systematic thinking led to major scientific breakthroughs.

16. Sigmund, Exact Thinking in Demented 17. Pinker, The Sense of Style: 19. Shaw, The Memory Illusion. Figure 8: A) Claude Shannon laid down the classical framework for the study of communication and entropy in 1948- 49. The exchange of a single Times: The Vienna Circle and the Epic The Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing message generates entropy. (Shannon 1948/49) B) The exchange of many messages in parallel accommodates variation-selection processes, Quest for the Foundations of Science. in the 21st Century, 4. which negate entropy and accumulate meaningful variants. The equivalent process is found in the quasispecies equation. (Baciu 2017/18) Kandel, The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, 18. Shannon, C. “A mathematical theory and Brain. of communication,” 379–423. Shannon and Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication.

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 35 2.1 Dissemination: Empirical Testing When evaluating the corpus, one is particularly pleased Mathematics, too, lets people define parameters and vari- In the heydays of digital sociology, the French researcher with the richness of recurring expressions such as the ones ables. The Chicago school is our variable; and variables vary. Pierre Giraud, attempted to explain word frequency distribu- The Chicago schools have co-evolved somewhat like an just mentioned, and they were used in disambiguating the tions using this technique.#" He posited that word matrices urban myth to which there are many variants and alterna- Rather than conserving a language, it would seem better di!erent senses of the term Chicago school. Disambiguation are best reduced to 32 independent dimensions. In line with tives. To test the predictions of the quasispecies equation, to let dissemination find its ways. With the quasispecies by recurrent expressions proved more precise than comput- this procedure, he held that all words were combinations these variants and alternatives must be systematically equation in mind, dissemination can be interpreted as a flow er-driven approaches. of the same number of semantic units he called “semes.” and quantitatively evaluated. Imagine collecting all books system that e!iciently searches for meaningful information. Giraud believed that his semes were something like the and periodicals that referenced the Chicago school. The After disambiguating the di!erent schools of thought by This property explains why culture always has good solu- chemical substance of all words. From this setup, a Pareto HathiTrust, a large network of North American university recurrent expression, Aristotle’s genus and di!erentia served tions at hand, mostly even before a problem is faced. This is distribution could have emerged naturally. libraries, has 105,000 such records. Among these records, to estimate pairwise distances between groups of records, not because someone foresees the future, but because cul- some Chicago schools must be more frequent than others, and the quasispecies equation was used to model the ture transforms individual creativity into collective strategy. However, this rigid world of semes remained otherwise but would it be possible to predict this stratification of e!ects of large-scale dissemination. The technical details of illusive. Indeed, the semes are nothing absolute, but they 2.2 The Axes of Dissemination di!erent schools of thought in the public discourse using the methodology are introduced in my dissertation in more depend on the corpus that is being considered. For this the quasispecies equation? detail. Figure 9 shows the results for the Chicago schools of Before continuing to the next section, the results obtained present article, roughly 100,000 articles were collected social science, and the results support the new theory. from testing should be put into a broader historical context. that contain the term “humanities.” The initial vocabulary of As mentioned before, there are many Chicago schools Distributions of occurrence were studied in the past by more than 150,000 words was then reduced to 250 dimen- in architecture, philosophy, sociology, economics, radio, An important consequence can be drawn from the theory of figures such as the great Vilfredo Pareto, Alfred J. Lotka, sions, and subsequent studies revealed that many of the television, music, art, etc. Many of these schools are closely dissemination: It would make no sense to artificially limit the and George K. Zipf (mentioned in the context of the Vienna resulting 250 dimensions were closely aligned to material related. In the history of dissemination, there were many meaning of the term Chicago school to just one definition. school). The methods of collecting and aggregating data published by individual presses; thus, making it clear that important schools, each of which gave rise to an entire On the contrary, a large number of terms must be ambiguous that these researchers used were statistically incomplete,#+ the dimensions that came out of dimensionality reduction spectrum of surrounding variants that were not necessarily in any living language. Ambiguity and polysemy constitute but their findings proved consistent with each other, for have little absolute value, and are dependent on corpus, frequent or commonly agreed upon. the evolutionary potential of that language. However, in which reason the studies are widely known and accepted publishers, and authors. the absence of evolution the language eventually becomes Some Chicago schools are actual schools of thought, while in their essence. Bibliometrics, for example, emerged from obsolete. Conservative languages, such as Ecclesiastical In the 1980s and 1990s Giraud’s semes were replaced by a others are partially or completely fictitious. The Chicago Lotka’s studies. The present theory not only replicates and Latin, and artificially archaic languages, such as the Greek new term “memes,” which is still in use today though with school of bone-crushers, for example, might be interpreted explains some of these previous findings, but it also resolves Katharevousa, support this hypothesis by the fact that many ambiguous senses—which may not sound surprising as a counterpart to the emerging Chicago school of crimi- the problem of statistical completeness by giving more they were eventually overthrown. By contrast, successful any longer. Around the same time, increased computational nology in the times of Al Capone. This underground school detail to the mathematical model and more structure to programming languages, although they must be used to power led to growing interest in dimensionality reductions. of unknown authenticity was one of many schools only the predictions. give unambiguous instructions to the computer, let their In 1997, Thomas K. Landauer and Susan T. Dumais devel- rarely mentioned in the public discourse, among which one users define and redefine any number of processes again In physical chemistry, attempts to explain frequency oped an ingenious semantic test, which indicated 200–300 can also find the Chicago school of speculators in New York, and again. Thus, variables in programming languages, if distributions eventually led to the quasispecies equation; dimensions to be a number much better than 32. or the Chicago school of the west. collected from multiple codes, may be even more ambig- however, in the social sciences and humanities, no final In addition, the two researchers, one of them a psycholo- uous than words collected from multiple text documents. conclusion has been reached. For example, it has remained gist, the other a computer scientist, also attempted a new unclear why certain words are more frequent than others psychological explanation for the algorithm. They wrote that and to what extent. This lack of consensus might have been they attempted “to reduce the otherwise magical appear- caused by the fact that few researchers seriously evaluated ance of [the algorithm’s] performance.” For example, they Distributions of 1: Chicago school of sociology word senses when they developed their theories. Thus, the occurrence simulated explained that the first steps of data preprocessing were theories became very abstract and made no predictions through the quasispecies meant to filter out entropy and simulate associative learning. whatsoever with regard to cultural change and the meaning equation (which is a of words. One attempt to explain word frequency distri- However, despite these attempts, Landauer and Dumais textbook case of 2: Immediate neighbors to 1 evolutionary dynamics) butions must nevertheless be mentioned here because it remained unable to make the connection between dimen- compared to historical employed the principle of variation, though unconsciously. sionality reduction and any extant theory of learning: “the 3: Immediate neighbors to 2 first processing step [...] is a rough approximation to condi- data on the Chicago Since the 1960s, increases in computational power led to 4: Immediate neighbors to 3 tioning or associative processes. However, the model’s next schools of sociology. This the adoption of a technique of analysis known as “dimen- A Quasispecies evolution B simulated steps, the singular value decomposition [SVD] and dimen- simulation explains sionality reduction,” in which sparse, high-dimensional persistend clustering sionality reduction are not contained in any extant theory data is reduced to less sparse data with a smaller number patterns as an outcome of of learning.”## of dimensions. This technique gave way to the development variation-selection of two entire fields of study, namely, digital humanities and Inspired by Landauer and Dumais, an entire subsequent processes as illustrated in generation of authors polished the algorithm to excellence.#$ the previous . digital sociology. The simulation was run However, the theoretical meaning of the dimensionality with stochastic 1 reduction remained unclear despite the many technical adapted from improvements. Bertels, Gokhale, Traulsen (2017), where the 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 mathematics were applied toward a dierent C Distributions obtained from simulation (left) and from historical data (right) purpose.

Figure 9: Distributions of occurrence simulated through the quasispecies equation (which is a textbook case of evolutionary dynamics) 20. Piantadosi, “Zipf’s Word Frequency 22. Landauer and Dumais, 23. Blei, Ng, and Jordan, “Latent E!ective Latent Concept Modeling for compared to historical data on the Chicago schools of sociology. This simulation explains persistent clustering patterns as an outcome Law in Natural Language: A Critical “A Solution to Plato’s Problem: The Latent Dirichlet Allocation,” 993–1022. Ad Hoc Information Retrieval,” 61–84. of variation-selection processes as illustrated in the previous figure. The simulation was run with stochastic refinements adapted from Review and Future Directions.” Semantic Analysis Theory of Acquisition, Matveeva et al., “Term Representation Bertels, Gokhale, and Traulsen (2017), where the mathematics were applied toward a different purpose. Induction, and Representation of with Generalized Latent Semantic 21. Giraud, Knowledge,” 211–240. Analysis.” Bullinaria and Levy, “Extracting “The Semic Matrices of Meaning,” 131–139. Semantic Representations from Word Co-occurrence Statistics: Stop-lists, Stemming, and SVD,” 890–907. Deveaud, Sanjuan, and Bellot, “Accurate and

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 37 The new theory of dissemination may answer this open find a parallel in physics in the “constructal law,” which is Around the same time, the term “business cycle” suddenly 3.1 Reception: Testing the E!ects of Habituation question. The SVD that Landauer and Dumais and many of somewhat the opposite of the second law of thermodynam- became popular in economics. Interestingly, Pareto had Testing the predictions made by a Lotka-Volterra model their followers utilized is a generalized form of eigendecom- ics. It states that flow systems must increase their e!iciency already compared his distribution to the shape of a spinning that considers only two populations requires settings position, which is the mathematical procedure behind the to persist and prevail. The constructal law earned Adrian top. Lotka went further to formulate a third law of thermo- in which these populations are rather isolated. In our case, quasispecies equation. The slight di!erence stems from the Bejan the Benjamin Franklin Prize in 2018. The homeostatic dynamics, which accounted for the negation of entropy. It is we must find an idea that almost completely shaped its own fact that Landauer and Dumais used rectangular matrices, imperative and the constructal law are similar to each other this law that later inspired the Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine public discourse, such that writers and target audiences while eigendecomposition requires the matrices to be in that they state the conditions under which life—physical and his contemporaries in their theories about the origins of fall into one single, cohesive circle, or one big cluster of square. The first is a more general case, but the choice lies or organic—may persist and prevail. life. Flows of energy, metabolism, vortices, Norbert Wiener, people. A good example could be the Chicago school of with the experimenter. Some of the followers of Landauer as well as Eigen, Schuster, and the quasispecies equation The theory of reception proposed here states that entire architec ture. This Chicago school was relatively isolated and Dumais used eigendecomposition. are terms and names associated with inquiries into how audiences attempt to establish homeostasis when they are from the many others, many of which were associated with entropy is negated in physical and biological systems. In The quasispecies equation explains why the matrix must flooded with information. To evaluate whether this takes the University of Chicago that, however, does not have a addition, the constructal law mentioned before grew on top be decomposed. Geometrically, the eigenvectors and place, the behavior of the audiences is further split into three program in architecture. of this theoretical edifice. eigenvalues represent the axes of the hyper-ellipsoids that homeostatic sub-processes, namely: habituation, discrimi- Quantitative testing supports this thesis (figure 10). In enclose all vectors in the matrix. In our case, these values nation, and sensitization. In many cases, Lotka-Volterra equations predict cyclic addition, historical evaluation reveals that there were may count as estimations of the “axes of dissemination” behavior. The classical example is a population of foxes that These three processes are particularly important in studying heated debates around the Chicago school of architecture. in the public discourse. eat rabbits. The growth and decline in population sizes looks the dynamics of reception because they generate predict- In particular, there were three major exhibitions held by like waves because the sizes of prey and predator popula- No wonder then that the axes of dissemination often con- able, time-dependent consumer response: Habituation two of Chicago’s most renowned museums. Some of these tions consecutively outbalance each other. More broadly, the verge with individual publishers. Based on their editorial filters out repeated, irrelevant messages; sensitization exhibitions converged with waves of public interest, but the equations simulate interactions between multiple popula- policies and the like, journal editors estimate the value of recovers repeated but important messages; and discrimina- Lotka-Volterra model also predicts waves of public interest tions, and they are therefore uniquely suited to model the information, they accept or reject papers, and they dissemi- tion makes the distinction between similar messages that in absence of exhibitions. interaction between entire groups of authors and audiences. nate only certain types of ideas at the cost of others. It is thus are of di!erent relevance to the recipient. that ideas keep clustering into cohesive groups as a result Let us begin with the first of the three processes, and later of the principle of variation in the process of dissemination. add the others in. Habituation is one of the brain’s most In presence of the entropy principle alone, there would be no important filters of information. In his pioneering work, Shows groups of associations; everything would eventually become Thomas Insel showed that a minor di!erence in neurological MCA1976 evenly distributed. However, as the axes of dissemination architecture causes the related montane and prairie voles Large-Scale Reception . Condit, Hilberseimer AIC1987 form, the entropy is reversed. to react very di!erently in their daily life, which constitutes A . Media activity and Peisch, Webster 1964-65 AIC1993 an important adaptation to the environment that the 3. Audiences and Reception habituation lead to waves Hamlin animals inhabit.#% of fashion . B. Homeostatic 1900-07 Giedion Varieties of ideas are disseminated in parallel, which already processes of habituation, 1 The neurotransmitters that Insel studied were later 1939-41 accounts for some phenomena of ambiguity and for the discrimination, and employed in countless studies on the physiology of per- Tallmadge accumulation of culture rather than entropy. However, one sensitization lead to a Media activity 1908-21 ception in humans. In this context, they were used to study Chicago must not forget that publishers themselves compete for double-phased evolution. processes that led to the formation of moral judgments. School of audiences. Similar chains of selection may occur in nature. This is identical to the Audience habituation And from this and similar research, it resulted that the same Architecture Among Wallace’s birds mentioned before, the males display biology textbook case of neurochemistry that Insel studied in voles also influences A Habituation cycles rich plumage, which impresses the females. But among evolutionary dynamics 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 collective decisions in entire groups of people.#& the latter, those that choose the freshest display leave most known in biology. (Nowak, o!spring in a population in which epidemics are one of Habituation is abundant in biological organisms, and it Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of sum Chicago the largest concerns. Humans, too, have developed highly varies across them. Nevertheless, its dynamics are easily Life) C. The simulated School sophisticated tests to figure this question. summarized as follows: The more organisms encounter sustained rise phenomena are also found repeated stimuli that are meaningless to them, the stronger individual spikes The theory of reception proposed in my dissertation in the historical data for their nervous systems build mechanisms that suppress attempts to predict how audiences react to the information the Chicago school. those incoming stimuli. In our case, the press repeatedly ...of Civics they are flooded with. The question is almost the same as in Above: “Chicago school of disseminates ideas that are estimated to be successful, as 1908-1920 the previous section: Does ambiguity lead them into increas- architecture (Data: Dan C . well as advertisements that may pay well. But the audiences ing confusion, and into cultural crisis? Baciu, HathiTrust develop ways to filter out what has been too frequently Research Center ACS diversity ...of Arch. Continuing a century-long line of research, the psychologist repeated to them. Project 2017) Below: threshold ...of Socio. Vincent Deary and the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio have Chicago school at large 1 Habituation requires the presence of repeated stimuli in ...of Econ. recently emphasized how important the concept of homeo- (Data: Google Books 2012 diversity ...of Law order to be developed and maintained. Therefore, once a stasis is for understanding brain processes. The homeo- corpus) . In a forthcoming of voices story becomes outmoded, habituation is also lost. This latter static imperative states that all living beings must maintain article we explain the phenomenon gives fake news and the like a chance to return. a set of states at which their life processes are most e!icient. theoretical implications in B Evolutionary dynamics textbook For example, the vortex theory of the solar system by René 1900 1950 2000 Thus, life, in a biological sense, is similar to the “life state,” as additonal depth . Descartes is flawed, but it experienced many comebacks, C The Chicago School, historical data it was recently defined in physics, namely as the opposite of most recently in a viral video in 2018. the dead state. In addition, the homeostatic imperative may The dynamics of stimulation and suppression summarized 24. Insel and Shapiro, “Oxytocin receptor above are easily expressed as a pair of Lotka-Volterra Figure 10: Large-Scale Reception. A) Media activity and habituation lead to waves of fashion. B) Homeostatic processes of distribution reflects social organization equations. Alfred Lotka developed the equations in phys- habituation, discrimination, and sensitization lead to a double-phased evolution. This is identical to the life science textbook case in monogamous and polygamous voles,” Evolutionary Dynamics: Exploring the Equations of Life ical chemistry at the beginning of the twentieth century. of evolutionary dynamics. (Nowak, ) C) The simulated phenomena are also found 5981–5985. in the historical data for the Chicago school. Above: “Chicago school of architecture (Data: Dan C. Baciu, HathiTrust Research However, the equations eventually led him to speak of Center ACS Project 2017) Below: Chicago school at large (Data: Google Books 2012 corpus). In a forthcoming article I explain the 25. Bernhard et al., “Variation in the theoretical implications in additional depth. Oxytocin Receptor Gene is Associated evolutionary cycles in technology and human society. with Di!erences in Moral Judgment.”

Prometheus 02 Chicago Schools Dan Costa Baciu 39 3.2 Reception: Habituation, Sensitization, and During this long period of formation, new schools were pop- Schools of thought spread because some “foundational sank in the wave troughs, and some waves did not care to Discrimination ular only as long as they conveyed surprising information. ideas” drive the dissemination. Many of these ideas persist be crowned by exhibitions. As a consequence, the collective fame of Chicago schools in all circles to which they penetrate and thus lead to the Lotka-Volterra equations can also be formulated for more This complicated relationship between artistic impulse and remained moderate although the metropolis was otherwise formation of a “common ethos.” However, foundational ideas than two species, in which case they display rich dynamics public reaction is untangled in this present article not only booming at the time. are not easy to invent. Therefore, as they spread, they are because the cycles rarely return to the precise initial con- by evaluating extraordinary individual contributions to the complemented with new ideas that do not themselves drive ditions. Although the equations are deterministic, small Eventually enough schools were accumulated, and a historiography of the Chicago school, but also by showing the dissemination, but make the foundational ideas appear changes in the parameters lead to divergent behavior, tipping point was reached beyond which famous schools that cultural dynamics primarily result from the interplay more diverse and help alleviate habituation. However, no which makes the precise duration of cycles unpredictable. continuously sensitized the audiences. The Chicago schools between large-scale dissemination and reception in entire selection pressure keeps these diverse attributes in place. Paul Samuelson, one of the Nobel laureates of the Chicago then rose without constant new contributions from every groups of authors and audiences. Writers, curators, and school of economics, explored the interaction of more single school, and despite the fact that the strongest urban The counterintuitive phenomenon with respect to foun- journalists are creative, and may even be playful at times, than two species. growth was already over by then. This double existence led dational ideas is that, although persistent in general, such but the audiences narrow down and, in this sense, delimit many historians astray, but it is now explained with a theory ideas might partially be abandoned in the cultural circle in and define the meaning of ideas. If habituation always acted in all the diverse sociocultural derived from basic processes that are constantly at work in which they originated in favor of new drivers of dissemina- groups with the same strength at the same time, one would On second thought, it might seem almost self-evident that human perception. tion. However, these newer drivers of dissemination mostly expect that the peaks and valleys of the oscillations occurred transmitted information is meaningless unless received. come too late and do not have time and opportunities to in synchrony. However, this is not the case. To keep track of In addition, the mathematical model suggests that, in the Similarly, markets of goods are determined by both supply spread beyond their initial circle. this phenomenon, let us define two variants of an idea as phase of growing popularity of an idea, diversity may decline and demand. However, this does not immediately explain diverse when habituation discriminates the two and acts because the best interconnected and fastest spreading vari- This phenomenon is observed in biology as well. Influential how audiences work as collectives. Why does the public against each of them independently. ants predominate, leaving more isolated ones in the shadow. recent work in metastatic cancer shows that all metastases discourse support extravagance and white-capped waves This was the fate of the Chicago school of architecture in the same organism share the same functional driver rather than sinking into endless depression? Once we consider the existence of multiple diverse variants, that was forgotten by scholars after the turn of the century genes, namely those genes that make the tumors grow. we must also accept the possibility of interplay between As we discussed, this question has a longer history. An (figure 10c). As already mentioned, this Chicago school was This persistence is also found when driver genes vary in variants: new variants may catalyze the revival of older ones. important milestone in this history dates from the 1940s. old and vigorous, but more isolated. Such loss in the diver- the initial tumor.#) This phenomenon can be modeled as sensitization. Together, At that time, Shannon recognized that meaningful informa- sity of themes and narratives might reverse rising trends, in habituation, discrimination, and sensitization lead to a more These final model conclusions can also be tested on Chicago tion is always accompanied and compromised by noise, particular when old thought also becomes outdated. Finally, complex system of equations. schools. The historical data show that Chicago schools often and noise can only accumulate during communication.#* the trend might follow a typical s-shaped curve and reach shared foundational ideas. Influential schools claimed to This also means that meaningful information is always Habituation, discrimination, and sensitization complement a plateau, limited by the mere size of the audience. o!er syntheses of theory and practice, and they attempted at a loss. How then can something as exceptional as culture each other, in general. Nevertheless, there is an asymmetry. 3.3.1 Additional Qualitative Tests to explain the relationships between individuals and urban ever take place on this slack sea of entropy? Habituation only reacts against variants of a term that are society in the light of what could be called an evolutionary too frequently mentioned compared to their utility, but The diversity threshold hypothesis also makes qualitative In the humanities, the value of extraordinary contributions perspective. These ideas represent the common ethos that sensitization can emerge from the interplay between any predictions with respect to the public perception of poly- is often judged by their uniqueness, their being “one of a drove the dissemination of Chicago schools. On the other two variants at large. Thus, habituation obeys a set of rules semy. In particular, we expect that early audiences were kind.” The words “extraordinary,” “exceptional,” and “excel- hand, Chicago schools are truly diverse when it comes to slightly more restrictive than sensitization. only aware of small numbers of word senses for the Chicago lent” literally mean “beyond the ordinary,” “taken out,” and disciplinary frameworks; they can be found in many disci- school, while audiences in the second part of the twentieth “rising above.” Outstanding contributions and culture are the The e!ects of this type of asymmetry in the di!erential plines, as well as many combinations thereof. century witnessed an overwhelming plurality. These predic- opposite of depression, burnout, and entropy. Techniques of equations are surprising, and they have been extensively tions are consistent with the historical data as well. In accord with our latest theoretical prediction, the founda- dimensionality reduction are only one empirical proof that studied in evolutionary biology. Under given circumstances, tional ideas of the Chicago school are the richest in architec- there are waves out there on the ocean of culture, but how the equations thus formulated lead to a diversity threshold In 1939, the National Council of Architectural Registration ture, in their most important cultural circle of origin. In archi- do these waves emerge? and a multiphase growth. Based on the quasispecies and Boards only accepted one definition of the term Chicago tecture, there are two Chicago schools of rather divergent the Lotka-Volterra equations, Martin A. Nowak and his school. John A. Holabird, the grandson of one of the great Audiences do not respond to artistic impulses with indif- theoretical orientation. The second, or Prairie school of collaborators developed an equivalent theory that proved architects of the Chicago school and himself an architect, ference and entropy alone, but to a certain extent, they do architecture, has its own foundational ideas that di!er very helpful as applied to the physiology of immunity.#' was unfamiliar with the term all together, although the respond to all outstanding, and oftentimes outrageous, not only from the first Chicago school of architecture, but Chicago school was already on the tipping point to fame. information that floods them in the same way. They search On a di!erent time scale, the same phenomena can be also from most other Chicago schools. The second school Then again, only twenty years later, the historian H. Allen for a new and more productive balance in support of life. In observed in the physiology of perception and the accumula- came too late for its ideas to spread and form new Chicago Brooks felt the contrary. The vast heterogeneity among brief, this principle is called “homeostasis.” It is omnipresent tion of human culture. At this point, it might be important to schools in other domains of knowledge. This phenomenon Chicago’s schools of architecture overwhelmed him. in nature and physics, and the fact that it does not leave recall that the brain controls both perception and significant may have led astray many interpreters of the Chicago school. He judged their coexistence a modern phenomenon. culture untouched suggests that the latter may only be a aspects of immunity.#( The boundary between biological 4. What is Culture? crowning expression of life. and cultural life is nonexistent at this particular junction. In The equations easily reconcile the many di!erent percep- terms of mathematics and modeling, the observed equiva- tions. Both data and equations suggest that the schools were The second half of the 20th century witnessed a sequence Many physical and biological systems negate entropy by lence is primarily a result of similar principles of self-organi- old, but diversity was a new and most apparent phenomenon of five unprecedented waves of public interest in the Chicago striking a balance between variation in a large but limited zation under the homeostatic imperative. for the Chicago schools in Brooks’s times. Diversity is what school of architecture, and Chicago’s Art Institute and environment, and homeostasis. This means that similar made the Chicago schools rise in the 1950s and 1960s. Museum of Contemporary Art took advantage of the public to the accumulation of entropy, its negation is guided 3.3 Reception: Testing the Expanded Model interest at some of its highest peaks. The results were three by universally valid principles. The Nobel laureate Erwin 3.3.2 Additional Qualitative Tests The history of Chicago schools at large can serve as a test outstanding architectural exhibitions with a public reso- Schrödinger, basing his reasoning on earlier work by Ludwig object for the expanded set of equations (figures 10b-c). Last but not least, the theory of reception explains yet nance so complete that it made young architects, as well as Boltzmann, popularized the idea of negative entropy in At first, multiple schools coexisted next to each other with another counterintuitive phenomenon with parallels in the scholars, forget that the Chicago school had a much longer biology and physics with his 1944 book What is Life? Maybe habituation acting against each of them independently. life sciences. history. Then again, other extravagant exhibitions silently we can now expand this title to What are Life and Culture?

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