The Janitor

a contribution by Traumnovelle

Traumnovelle, The Janitor, plan, 2021.

For millennia, men and women of all ages have come to me.

My gates are multiple and opposed.

I create reactions, relationships between people.

Any way to gather is good.

It is the space that influences and changes them.

Some decide to gather and make collective choices, others to enforce a non-existent power.

They group themselves into small bands with no leader.

Cycles are repeated but time does not pass.

In the face of confrontation humans will fight or flee.

Some assemblages are cannibalised or simply disappear.

Among my skeleton, relationships are woven.

I offer them protection, they feed on me.

They separate at the 4 corners of my form.

They demonstrate and riot, sometimes give up and take sides.

By organising themselves, they create new ways of doing things and look to the future.

Exploiting others or trying to unite them.

Any means of dividing is good.

Interactions and relationships are perpetuated in eternal recurrence.

The more humans move away, the more they return to old fears.

Under the same roof, they cross paths and evolve.

I watch over them, I offer them shelter.

I withhold their lost memories.

I am the Janitor.

Traumnovelle, The Savage State, collage, 2021.

Traumnovelle, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, collage, 2021.

Traumnovelle, The Consummation of Empire, collage, 2021.

Traumnovelle, Destruction, collage, 2021.

Traumnovelle, Desolation, collage, 2021.

Traumnovelle is a militant faction founded by three Belgian architects: Léone Drapeaud, Manuel León Fanjul and Johnny Leya. They use architecture and fiction as analytical, critical and subversive tools to emphasize contemporary issues and dissect their resolutions. Traumnovelle alternates between cynicism and enthusiasm all the while advocating for critical thinking in architecture.