They say in the culture of the Netherlands one can find a mixture of rationality and crazyness. How can anyone stand such a strong contradiction within oneself? I have been always obsessed with investigating the factors that shape culture within the natural conditionings. It has not been a fair investigation I must admit, I have been rather concentrated on finding arguments that side my preconceived and imagined assumptions. Why are Dutch a mixture of rationality and crazyness then?Back in Polish mountains the wind called Halny blows in the end of each winter. Then, from time to time there makes the news an information about increased number of suicides presumably caused by the wind. It's true that some humans are particularly vulnerable to alternating air preasure. When a strong and unexpected wind hits an unstable individual this might indeed cause a problem. Here in the Netherlands I felt creatively excited a couple of times just when it was blowing hard, although I think I was still quite far from committing a suicide.
Dwelling in the Netherlands has always been marked by a harsh relationship between the man and the sea. But it was habitable land that was always in shortages and step by step had to be stolen from the sea. Implementing complicated engineered structures and mechanism has always been a challenge. It required a lot of co-operation in society and personal discipline in an individual. Subordinating wind was crucial for the organization of communities but it still affected many individuals.
Is then the "land" - a mass, a definite structure - responsable for the rationality within the people as opposed to the "sea" or actually the "wind"- fluid or invisible undefined entities - determines the crazyness factor within us? Is this to be translated into the dialectics of form in the architecture? A relationship between a somber straight line and some funky dancing polycurve? What elements define us the most back in Poland?
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