PIGS is an acronym used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain.
PIGS is an acronym with a derisive edge. The anonymous inventor is probably not familiar with Adolf Loos who, in 1908, wrote the following.
‘In the fifteenth century, the Germanic people were compelled to give up their culture for that of the Latin world that dominated Europe until the nineteenth century. I attempted to characterize these two cultures ten years ago: Latin culture as that of the CAT; German culture as that of the PIG.’
Playing with conventional signifiers and expectations, Loos privileges the PIG over the CAT, arguing that the PIG signifies a willingness to ‘get dirty’ and a corresponding desire to keep itself clean, while the CAT only remains clean by avoiding dirt.
Translated to the level of culture, Germanic culture—the culture of the PIG—is characterized by a desire to strive for a higher level of cultural attainment, while Latin culture—the culture of the CAT—is hesitant to act and content to remain in its present form.
The video presented here is called FARM HOUSE.
FARM HOUSE features a ‘silent symposium’ in which 7 individuals with different relationships to architecture discuss a book I wrote called WEST WORKROOM. It is a book that discusses my architectural work—projects and writing—to prompt a dialogue between the culture of the PIG and the culture of the CAT, namely the culture in which I have been operating during my professional life.
WEST WORKROOM, Towards a new sobriety in architecture was written in 2007 and argued for a ‘NEW SOBRIETY’ in architecture. The word has by now become a sort of over-abused (and often misused) mantra.
FARM HOUSE. Is it a yet un-acknowledge ‘menagerie’ of current Italian Architecture?
conrad-bercah