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So many of these have some building as the backdrop, but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Europe doesn't have a dear
by spaceman_2020 2mo ago
So many of these have some building as the backdrop, but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings
Europe doesn't have a dearth of stunning architecture. Have they all been discarded in favor of ugly straightline modernist sloptitecture because they might be construed as offensive for some reason?
- ketzu 2mo ago> but all the buildings are modernist skyscrapers and uninspired office buildings Because they are the european institutions, eg the EU parliament building, EU comission, etc. They are mostly office buildings.
- like_any_other 2mo agoThat does not mean they were the only possible choice. Personally, I find having my continent represented by them an extreme insult.
- watwut 2mo agoPeople really take offe se on everything these days.
- Bewelge 2mo agoCan you elaborate what you mean? Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation? If there is to be European cooperation that goes beyond heads of states talking to each other, you're going to need some kind of space where they can do that. Using that building as a symbol seems like an obvious choice albeit not a very creative one. Really struggle to see how that choice can be "extremely insulting".
- crote 2mo agoThe average European does not view those buildings as symbols of European cooperation. They are just another generic office building some nameless and faceless bureaucrats work in. They lack the symbolism and recognizability of some US buildings like the White House, the Capitol, or the Pentagon - which are all inherently linked to the institutions they host. A movie showing an external shot of the White House establishes that we're going to be looking at the US President next. A movie showing an external shot of the European Parliament establishes... office drones working in the Business Factory?
- yencabulator 2mo agoYou're describing American propaganda that Europeans tend to avoid...
- luplex 2mo agothis is because people don't even recognize the buildings. Even I only recognized the commission and the ECB. I think if we put them on our money, citizens will recognize them more!
- sznio 2mo agoI don't think any of these buildings has the recognizability potential. I could recognize the Commission too since I see it on TV every day, but others are generic offices. The White House has a distinct shape. The Capitol has a distinct shape. The Pentagon absolutely has a distinct shape. I don't think the ECB will ever be recognizable (or at least won't become recognized via exposure), since it's just a glass tower like thousands of others.
- like_any_other 2mo ago> Are you against the idea of European cooperation in general? Or against the implementation? I'm against ugly soulless buildings. Those buildings can't be a symbol for anything, because they, like all modern [1] buildings, were deliberately designed to remove all identity. They are completely generic, no different from modern buildings in Beijing, New York, or Dubai. The only thing they represent is a capitulation, or refusal, of making things beautiful. I'd vastly prefer some national landmark of the nation that committed war crimes against us in WWI & II, than that. [1] Or is it "modernist"? Whatever the "style" of basic geometric shapes in steel and glass is called.
- Bewelge 2mo agoFair enough, you're not a fan of how modern buildings look. But how is that extremely insulting to you?
- qnpnpmqppnp 2mo agoAn extreme insult, seriously? It seems pretty neutral, if un-exciting, to see EU institutions displayed on Euro banknotes. It also avoids the obvious pitfall of national landmarks.
- jillesvangurp 2mo agoBrutalist buildings in Brussels. Not a great choice for a continent with 2000+ years of very rich architecture history.
- RamblingCTO 2mo agoAlso the ECB in frankfurt on the 50€
- Towaway69 2mo agoPerhaps making the notes as ugly and boring as possible will push folks off physical money onto trackable digital money that is just as soulless as the buildings on the notes.
- sznio 2mo agothey could put the ECB on the 500€ since a money factory is a decent image to put on a banknote, and follows the original bridge series theme of ancient-modern. but find some actually nice buildings to put on the rest
- fph 2mo agoThis sounds very self-centered. Many people already see the EU bureaucrats as something alien, let's not give them another reason to think they're selfish.
- ahartmetz 2mo agoYeah. Bad choice.
- roysting 2mo ago[flagged]
- watwut 2mo agoEurope union is overall a good thing. Full stop.
- ahartmetz 2mo agoNah, we need to criticize what deserves it so that it stays a mostly positive thing.
- roysting 2mo agoThe European Union is not a good thing. Full stop. Excellent debate. Good arguments made. You lack the imagination for what the EU could have been, not an institution that imposes itself on the people while screaming “democracy” and “equality” as the abuses continue unabated and the indigenous people and the millennia and century old cultures of Europe are being eradicated and snuffed out. It is being done in far more sophisticated and subtle ways, but like they were in the Americas, in Russia, in China, in Asia in general, etc. it was also done to the Americans who were a prosperous and educated and vibrant people before the 20th century, and now it is what everyone knows it as…… the future face of Europe if this continue.
- thisisold 2mo agoThese are the central institutions of the European Union. That’s why there’re portrayed in the notes
- TitaRusell 2mo agoDisclaimer: IDGAF haven't used cash in years Europe is a continent with countries that have literally centuries of enimity and nationalism between them. You cannot put a French building on a banknote. Bland and inoffensive is what keeps the Union together. Its why Strasbourg exists. Its why there are Dutch translators despite the fact every Dutch member of parliament speeches in English.
- tialaramex 2mo agoI don't know that it's about "Bland and inoffensive" so much as about recognition that differences are fine. Two football teams don't agree about which team is best - but they do agree the rules of football. Without that there is no game. Having multiple languages is more of that "differences are fine". The use of Directives rather than Regulations for many purposes allows a country's government to incorporate local differences in how we do things. A Regulation applies everywhere, but the Directive just tells your government to make local law to meet some goal. What we want to achieve is the same in Paris and San Gimignano but how we do it will vary by local culture.
- derdi 2mo agoI mean, half of these proposals put specific people from specific countries on banknotes. So it's hard to argue that it would be impossible to do the same with buildings.
- lrasinen 2mo agoI'm in the EU and you absolutely can put a French building on a banknote. I'd much rather look at the Eiffel tower or the Tower of Pisa or Neuschwanstein castle than the European Court of Auditors. Or if you like to have something modern, Paimio Sanatorium or Turning Torso.
- cm2187 2mo agoBut that defeats the purpose of having a boring glass building, or birds or modern bridges. The underpinning ideology is that europe should have no history, no culture and no identity, because suggesting anything else 1) will offend the hyper sensitivity of modern left ideologues who think that the said culture, history and identity is terrible and should only be condemned, apologised for, and buried, and 2) would be unwelcoming to immigrants as it would suggest somehow that there is a society they should adapt to rather than the other way round. I remember a major French pro-european politician (Modem party) attempting to define Europe (in the context of integrating Turkey), as "the friends of democracy". When you can't (or rather refuse to) define your identity, the only thing left to represent it is birds, office buildings and bridges. Notre Damme de Paris or the Pantheon in Rome are just old embarrassing historical artefacts of an evil civilisation.
- rsynnott 2mo agoThese are EU government buildings; unlike the bridges in the current notes, they’re real structures, not an archetype. The EU likes a giant office block, generally.
- sam_dusk 2mo agoThere just shouldn’t be any buildings on those notes. Any good choices are too country specific. All of them are out imo only D & F I find actually inspired and good the rest of these designs should go straight into the bin. Stop birds, people, buildings then see what they can come up with. Gotta be better.
- gillesjacobs 2mo agoThey asked to put EU buildings on there to grab power and cultural capital. The EU is centralizing and consolidating by any means necessary.