The following is a question and answering session with Uncle Farkus regarding his latest design in Greenville, South Carolina. More information on the project can be found here.

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Interview conducted April 30, 2011

Walter Clemensky: Hello Mr. Farkus, thank you for taking the time from your studio to answer some questions for us.

Uncle Farkus: No problem friand! Glad to do it.

WC: Great, well we won’t take too much of your time. To start off, tell us a little bit about the project—just a quick little overview.

UF: Well, friand, the building is a museum in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. The site is located across from a park—Falls Park. Ugh, the site is currently a vacant parking lot next to a Subway—Eat Fresh.

WC: Intriguing, tell us a little bit about what the building is to be used for.

UF: Ah, of course. The building is a museum for the art collection of Atanta-based collector, Bill Arnett. He has perhaps the largest collection of African American folk art in the world. It’s great.

WC: Oh my, how exciting. This is an esteemed project then. Tell us, did you use any of the art as inspiration when designing?

UF: Oh my, that’s an interesting story. I actually began by looking at some of the art in the collection—especially art by Thornton Dial. I remember seeing one piece called “Full Changes of Day”. It instantly reminded me of an old conspiracy theory I heard about regarding Greenville.

WC: A conspiracy theory? How exciting, tell us more.

UF: Well, my friand, as I was looking at the piece of art of Dial’s, I began to notice an apparent voronoi pattern in the art.

WC: A voronoi pattern? What is that?

UF: It’s a pattern derived from an algorithm, rumor has it that the algorithm was inspired by aliens in the 17th century after Goergy Voronoi was reportedly abducted and tested for a brief period of his life. Now, I don’t know if that is truth obviously… I wasn’t alive back then, but it reminded me of a reported UFO crash in the park some 20 years ago before it was known as Falls Park.

WC: Are you being serious? I can’t tell.

UF: Oh I am being quite serious. I was already drawing inspiration from the site and topography of the park, so when I remembered about the UFO story, I had to look into it some more. This sort of thing had the potential to inspire the next Salk Institute—that was inspired by aliens you know.

WC: I actually did not know that. What did you find?

UF: Well, at first I found nothing. I looked on Google, Wikipedia, and the US government’s official blog. Nothing. So I visited some sites of UFO trackers and conspiracy blogs. That’s when the real inspiration starting arriving.

WC: Explain.

UF: On abovetopsecret.com, I ran across a fellow from the east coast who had supposedly witnessed the crash as he was driving home one evening. He swore it existed. Once I told him that I believed him and explained my interest in the crash, we became instant best friands.

WC: What was his name?

UF: I can’t tell you that; the feds are still looking for him.

WC: What?

UF: Yes, apparently he was so excited about helping me, he hacked the FBI and CIA databases—which still blows my mind that he was able to do so—and he recovered top secret photographs from the February 12, 1992 crash.

WC: Do you still have them?

UF: He never gave them to me, he said it put me in too much danger. He did allow me study them under his supervision for a great while. He had them on his iPad. It was cool, you could just take your finger and swish the images and documents back and forth. We had fun.

WC: Oh yes, I love my iPad. I should have waited for the 2 though. So what did you conclude from them?

UF: (Farkus chuckles) Ah, well, the alien bodies looked like horses which was interesting but likely something I will use for my next project in Shanghai. No, what I found was that the spacecraft was covered in a voronoi-like pattern that likely provided some sort of shield or weaponry. I’m really not sure. But it was exactly what I was hoping for. It validated my use of the voronoi. It was no longer an arbitrary move.

WC: I… don’t know if you joking… or being serious?

UF: Does it matter?

WC: I guess… not really?

UF: Of course it doesn’t. People are just going to trust the design because I did it. They don’t care where the inspiration came from.

WC: So, would you say the inspiration came from Dial’s art or the spacecraft documents?

UF: Both.

WC: Both?

UF: Yes, obviously, Thornton Dial was the alien that crashed the spacecraft in the park. His spirit left the horse-like body and took over Dial’s. It’s all explained in Men in Black 1 and 2.

WC: Oh….

UF: Yup.

WC: Well, Farkus, congratulations on your latest design. Any advice you’d like to give for up and coming architects?

UF: Just always study the site I guess. You never know what back story you will uncover.

WC: Indeed. Thank you for being here Farkus, take care.

UF: You too Walter, thanks for having me.