Clutter
October 27, 2019




It was a good day, that I spent in good company and I was happy to be there either way, so it didn’t spoil my mood when the desk guy mentioned ‘restoration works’ when we collected our tickets for the Farnsworth house. It’s what we pay an entrance fee for, to enable the preservation of the house. So I can’t complain if that’s what they are doing: preserving the house. In this case: replacing one of its windows.

But all the same, it was a disappointment to not be able to see (and photograph) the building intact and in its full glory. The design is all about space, openness and a clean simplicity. The entire house is lifted from the ground, there is literally no place to hide hardware and building supplies. The gap in the rear facade was shielded by plastic and hardboard.

I took pictures from only a couple of different angles, trying to keep the clutter out of the frame. Perhaps I shouldn’t have. Perhaps I should have taken the pictures that I wanted to take anyway and deal with the clutter later, one way or the other. Allowing it or not. I could have tried to put it to good use somehow. At least I wouldn’t have ended up with pictures that I actually find quite boring. Remakes from magazines, but taken without the proper equipment. The picture that I like the most, is the one above. One that originally and accidentally showed the plastic covered gap in the structure. Unwanted clutter. And I dealt with it.



Farnsworth House (1951) designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe for Edith Farnsworth. Chicago, Illinois.