Society and architecture in the satirical vision

A form of heretical representation of reality

Abstract

There are junctures, or rather we could say they have always existed, in which it is tough to express a direct opinion on a subject. Not only censorship but the objective impossibility of delving into a too articulate and composite dissertation can induce an 'observer' to choose another way to express their thoughts, evidently unrelated to a contingent reality. The choice of satire, through the centuries, has been able to synthesise visions, criticisms and even fierce attacks on the most disparate topics using the grotesque picture of an aspect, a systematic method aided by the advent of the availability of images as a vector of the idea. Ideologies, society, customs, and even architecture have been the subject of satirical visions where visual communication becomes synthesis and substance of thought. Synthesis can combine several aspects simultaneously and mean because the figuration of certain elements becomes as important as the narrative itself. Narrations, therefore, satirical ones that have evolved and spread in parallel with the growth and availability of vectors: the press at first and then television to arrive at contemporary social media, becoming an actual genre. Architecture often finds its protagonist as a metaphor for other concepts in this context. William Hogarth's visions of overcrowded cities and the setting in the alienating apartment block of Benigni's "The Monster" propose a non-explicit but equally profound critique of a society's values using a stereotype or figurative hyperbole to increase their effectiveness. The reflection we intend to submit focuses on the evolution of satirical visual narrative, with particular attention to the theme of architecture - often understood as the outcome of a modus - dwelling on the formal 'leaps' that specific historical periods have determined.