I wish I could say this were photos of things I made. I strive to emulate this kind of poignant beauty. What’s left behind of the one-time “world’s largest flour mill” in Minneapolis is a result of the combined forces of 19th-century Austrian engineering, American industry, two incredible fires (1928 and 1991), natural erosion, neglect, and finally the foresight of the inspired MS&R architects who decided to treat such traces as holy relics…just for me to worship.
Around the time that these i-beams were anchored to the earth, one out of every seven human beings was dying as a result of tuberculosis. The perpetual pandemic caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis has been part of the human experience for perhaps tens of thousands of years, and is still the leading cause of death worldwide… a quarter of the world population currently infected.
Covid19 may be commanding our attentions these days, but it really just underscores the vulnerability with which the human race has always lived with. Yet we continue to out-thrive the forces that would diminish us…maybe not forever, but for a while. The beautiful evidence is all around us..