Architecture as performance art: evaluating “iconic power” in the development of two museums

Abstract

Cities around the world have increasingly turned to iconic architectural development (IAD) to compete for tourists, investment and skilled migrants. However, IADs represent more than just an economic development tool, they are explicit attempts to create iconic representations of place. As such IADs provide an important opportunity to better understand how objects gain “iconic power”—defined as the fusion of powerful social meanings with the aesthetic surface of physical objects. Through a comparative study of two museum expansion projects, this article investigates how the production process influences the content and intensity of the meanings attributed to the buildings. Adopting a cultural pragmatics approach, I demonstrate that IADs constitute a social performance where the actions taken by developers to design, construct, and promote their buildings are interpreted by the outside public and inform the meanings attributed to the final buildings. In identifying the relationship between production and performance, this article extends our understanding of iconic power while also demonstrating how theories from the “Strong Program” in cultural sociology can be exported to advance the study of cities and urban development.