On the afternoon of December 3, 2008 I went to Beijing and (surprise! surprise!) shot more photos of the CCTV Headquarters Building, 366 days – it’s a leap year – after I shot my fist photo of the building. Obsessions being what they are, it seemed to be a thing I needed to do. For anyone who would like to know what “preoccupation” really means, click on the CCTV photo link on the right sidebar to see the fruits of a year: 665 photos. There will be more once I have the time to spend to look at the rest of the photos I shot on the afternoon of the 3rd, as well as the morning of the 4th. As I have mentioned in here before, I am not sure what has kept me coming back to this building, though I have a better idea now than I had a year ago, though I am still unsure of how to put it into words. Suffice it to say that it most likely has something to do with Homer (the Greek, not Simpson, though come to think about it …), Rilke, James Joyce; the love of busses and lampposts; sunlight, moonlight and light in general; and a crazy little thing called love. And probably a thing or two more.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 chriswaugh_bj // Dec 6, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Nothing wrong with a healthy obssession, and no matter which way you cut it, it’s a fascinating building. Personally, I’m a little obssessed with a rather more boring building just across the street from CCTV, Guomao’s Tower 3. I guess that’s mostly because it’s visible from most of my classrooms on days when one can’t taste the air, whereas CCTV is visible from only some of my classrooms and then from certain windows. Clearly it’s a function of height- there are several kilometres of medium- to high-rises between my classrooms and the two buildings in question.
2 jg // Dec 6, 2008 at 7:01 pm
Guomao 3 does almost nothing for me. “Tall” is about all I can say about it. OMA’s anti-skyscraper is infinitely more interesting and scary. I like the fear.
3 toomanytribbles // Dec 7, 2008 at 4:31 am
it’s an amazing building and its structure and location offer so many unique angles. the light, the weather… even the perpetually changing city all contribute to making it an fascinating place.
i don’t find your obsession at all peculiar — on the contrary, i’m amazed i didn’t get sucked into something similar.
so… happy 1st obsession anniversary!
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