Anarchitecture:an alternative attitude toward buildings

Anarchitecture is an attack on architecture, the dissecting and cutting of derelict and abandoned buildings. Mainly it was a rebellion against the so-called New York Five, the five most prominent architects during the '70s.
Gordon Matta Clark (1943-1978), a young sculptor that worked under Robert Smithson, presented this art form in the show Idea as Model hosted by the Institute of architectural and Urban Studies, in 1976. Among the participants was the New York Five who clashed violently as his contribution took place. Matta-Clark's style of working was to cut away sections of walls and floors in existing buildings. This subtractive process was not authorized, Matta-Clark and his friends would scour the city for abandoned buildings in which to experiment. One could argue that his art was vandalism, but many in the art world agree that this was his 1st Amendment right to freedom of expression.
One of his works, Window Blowout, 1976, involved shooting out the windows of a housing project, in the Bronx, with a bebe gun. Although each of these windows were already cracked, the organizers of the show were horrified and the piece was eradicated by the end of the day, which ironically completed his vision of the work. The significance of this reckless action was the logic of urban destruction/vandalism. He used these failed housing projects in the Bronx as an example of his own activist concerns with housing conditions for the city's poor.
Perhaps a more dangerous form of this abstract modern architecture was Matta Clark's Day's End (Pier 52 New York) 1975. Here, he transformed a mammoth abandoned pier, in the meat packing district, into a radiant cathedral for the few who managed to see it before the police arrived to close down the event. The warehouse was abandoned in the '60s after people lost their jobs and before Matta-Clark's dangerous operation, gay men used the spot for "cruisin'." His concern with this property was real estate speculation. He described this mission as "making a mark in sad, lonely history," as it was a time between speculation and real estate opportunity. Today, this space is as busy as Time Square. Like Window Blowout, the activity was illegal, he had no license. He and his three assistants made their "contribution to a decaying city," by making five huge cuts into the the building, each were circular or ovalish, mimicking that of a rose window on a cathedral. These cuts provided a source of light, a great illumination, liberating it from its chilling darkness. This light is crucial in viewing the work, the work is named after the time of day the passage of light is most intense (Day's End). It was the artists intent that these perceptual voids would display the unknown, the abyss, an opposition to capitalist rationalism of urban planning.
My thoughts:
I think that Matta-Clark is fascinating. His defiance toward architecture is definitely unique-destroying rather than creating. However using a language of violence in art (cutting, dissecting, mutilating buildings), creates a level of uneasiness for the viewer. Matta-Clark proves that art does not have to be beautiful, instead it must be poetic, an expression of the artists beliefs. In his case, his need to capture the poverty of a city slowly decaying.
Although I appreciate his project, I have a hard time respecting his way of working- illegally. This was dangerous and irresponsible. He should have gotten permission to destroy these buildings through a license. They were abandoned, it probably wouldn't have been hard, and he might have received more acclaim in the process. Instead, he opted for the notion of the artist as the romantic outlaw, an outlaw whose project came to an end abruptly as he died of cancer two years later.