Absurdity, Allegory and China

In a 2005 essay by OMA (Office of Metropolitan Architechture) partner Ole Scheeren Made in China, which appeared as the introduction to Architecture and Urbanism July 2005 Special Issue entitled CCTV by OMA, Mr. Scheeren stated:

As the national television station, CCTV has a direct relationship to the State – is information filter and propaganda machine – and receives subsidies to fulfill this role. However, the economic dependency is deceptive – CCTV pays taxes four or five times the amount of its subsidies and achieves advertising revenues that could pay for the cost of building its new headquarters in just a single year.

Jump ahead three years and four months to last week’s CCTV’s annual advertising auction, which opened promptly on the morning of November 18 at the auspicious tick of 8:18 AM and saw the “information filter and propaganda machine” fly in the face of the global economic turndown by, according to Normandy Madden in Advertisement Age, increasing their ad revenue by nearly 16% over last year’s auction.

Despite China’s slowing economy, there were few signs of recession at last week’s annual auction for prime-time advertising slots on China Central Television, where the tally hit a record $1.35 billion and Procter & Gamble was the largest buyer, sources said.

Since no one is saying how much the CCTV Headquarters complex will actually cost – I cannot recall seeing any estimates that have inched above the $1 billion USD mark – I’m giving this one to Mr. Scheeren. And as an added bonus it looks like there may be enough left over to build a secure wall around the 19.69 hectare site and turn it into a private party club.

The big spender in this year’s auction was, again, Proctor and Gamble (corporate headquarters, Cincinnati, OH) who dropped $75.4 million USD. I would like to assume that that sort of expenditure would come with a free pass to the hallowed ground, but then again, it’s the “filter and machine” and there may well be a membership fee in order to help maintain it’s well-oiled efficiency.

As far as I know there has been no further word on the initial architectural plan to have a park open to the public at the base of the main building, as well as public access to the two main roads that crisscross the site, weaving between the three main buildings of the complex, but if I were a betting man, my money would be on the Machine, which means walls, staggered barricades and lots of men in colored uniforms, perhaps 100 RMB note red.

Click photo to see larger view.