So,
I just finished up and turned in the Research Report portion of the thesis. Now it's off to build and design stuff.
24 April 2007
Wates House
London
Some thoughts on how to take the ideas from concept to physical constructions.
First some definitions:
LITERATURE:
1. Writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays.
2. Literary work or production.
TEXT:
1. Linguistics. a unit of connected speech or writing, esp. composed of more than one sentence, that forms a cohesive whole.
2. The main body of matter in a manuscript, book, newspaper, etc., as distinguished from notes, appendixes, headings, illustrations, etc.
3. Any of the various forms in which a writing exists.
LANGUAGE:
1. Any system of formalized symbols, signs, sounds, gestures, or the like used or conceived as a means of communicating thought, emotion, etc.: the language of mathematics; sign language.
2. Communication of meaning in any way; medium that is expressive, significant, etc.
3. A particular manner of verbal expression.
ALCHEMY
1. a power or process of transforming something common into something special.
2. A form of chemistry and speculative philosophy practiced in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and concerned principally with discovering methods for transmuting baser metals into gold and with finding a universal solvent and an elixir of life.
3. an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting
Work Interests:
Literature
Text
Language
Motion
Imagination
Surrealism
Cybernetics
Alchemy
Collections
Literature, Text, Language, and motion
Literature is the system that interests me the most. Literature is a machine consisting of many parts. At its heart it is a cybernetic system. This is because it primarily transmits messages from the author to the reader through the medium of language (in this case, text). The parts of this system that become interesting are the hidden aspects that the system contains, specifically aspects of motion. For me, the most interesting motion that occurs in the literature machine is not obvious. It is the motion of the ideas of the author that transmit through space to the reader and the construction of these ideas in the imagination of the reader. It is this construction that lies at the heart of the hidden aspects of motion text.
The imagination
This is the key part of the work. It is in our imagination that we construct a world that does not exist anywhere else. This construction is made up not of objects, but of non-objects. Theses non-objects consist of the act of the construction itself. The imagination does not construct physical, tangible things. The things that it constructs are the constructions themselves. So, everyone is constantly constructing and re-creating the world in their mind, through their imagination. But the imagination is not valued as legitimate in our society. It is seen as childish or foolish because it lacks logic and rigor. This could not be further from the truth, for the imagination is the most valuable construction tool we posses.
Surrealism
The works of the surrealists are extremely important, for it is surrealism that first began to explore the imagination in any serious way. Surrealism can be seen as an unfinished arm of the modernist movement. The surrealists were primarily concerned with the imagination and its ability construct. The work of people such as Dali, Duchamp, Ernst and Ray were not interested in the objects that they created but were more interested in how these creations affected the observer of their work. They wanted to engage the imagination not only of themselves, but also of the observer of their work.
Cybernetics
Language, Text, Literature...These are all cybernetic systems. The interest in cybernetics stems from Norbert Weiner’s definition saying that cybernetics deals with the sending and receiving of messages. It is about how messages are sent and received, and more importantly, how these messages are interpreted and imagined by the observer. This is the key component to literature, text, language, and the system of the Library of Motion: the Theater of the Imagination.
Alchemy
There’s a small interest in Alchemy with this work as well. Alchemy’s main purpose is to search and discover the prima material. This was done by fusing logic [science] with the imagination [myth]. Alchemists were not pure scientists. They were scientists, poets, artists, blacksmiths, and philosophers all wrapped up in one. They merged ideas based in logic with experiments of the imagination in order to explore the essence of the world. There desire and passion for obsessive experimentation and the logic of being illogical is something worth considering when dealing with issues of the constructions of the imagination.
Collection
We construct ideas based on our past experiences. Everything we do, everyplace we go, and everyone we meet has the capacity to change and influence the way that we perceive the world around us. The idea of the collection plays an important role in this work. Our imaginations are heavily influenced by the experiences of our past. Collections have the capacity to trigger the imagination in unexpected ways. People such as Joseph Cornell and Salvador Dali understood this. Their work, specifically Cornell’s ‘memory’ boxes and Dali’s Theater Museum in Fugges, was conceived as collections intended to stimulate and activate the imaginations of the people who experienced these works. These collections were not about the objects themselves, but about how these objects of the collection affected the imagination of the observer. The Library of motion: The Theater of the Imagination can be seen as a collection of objects and non-objects who’s main purpose is to spur the imagination into unknown territories.
Library of Motion: The Theater of the Imagination
Programmatic Components [In no particular order]
Here is a listing of possible components of the system and how they operate, taking the abstract ideas I have and constructing them through my imagination and interests to produce a physical spatial construction; the library of motion: the theater of the imagination.
**Some editing, as well as further definition, will need to take place, but I wanted to include all of the ideas for now**
Debris Machine: collection of the unseen
The Debris Machine is a vehicle that moves through the space of the library, reclaiming the hidden motions in half made constructions. It is closely related to the Differ(ea)nce Generator. The Debris Machine extracts fragments uncovered by the Differ(ea)nce Generator and transports them through the space of the library, transforming and allowing its pieces to overlap across the library and itself.
**HOW**
How does this piece reclaim the hidden motions in half made constructions?
What does it do with the debris it collects?
How does it move?
What affects its movement in the system?
**WHAT IS IT LIKE**
Exploded collage
Made of castings of objects and objects themselves
Has a feeling like a strange found object
It is familiar but at the same time strange
Differ(ea)nce Generator: Presencing Absence
The Differ(ae)nce Generator constantly reads and rereads the system, but it never sees things the same way twice. Difference works off absence. It reads the system of the library and produces constructions based on its observations, but these constructions are never complete. They are only half constructions; fragments of things never completed; ideas only half realized.
*HOW**
How does it read the system?
How does it build constructions based on what it sees?
Writing Apparatus: Flaubert’s Filter
The Writing Apparatus is a device that looks at and deals with writing as a form of communication. It exemplifies the differences between text and language. In doing so it also discusses and reveals the hidden motion of language. What is written and what is understood is not always the same thing. It writes in different ways, not always concentrating on discernible text. It takes motion and translates it into text. At the same time, it takes text and translates it into motion..
**HOW**
What does it write on?
What is its imput?
How does it write?
What is it made from?
Reconstruction Apertures: Textual Space Grafting
Throughout the Library exists a series of Reconstruction Apertures. These apertures constantly translate motion into space. They interact with the Debris Machine to form a network of observation, collection, translation, and finally construction. These apertures exist within the framework of the library itself: on a bookshelf, in a doorframe, at the writing desk. They take what is collected by the Debris Machine and physically alter the space of the library that they exist in.
Invisible Archive: Linguistic Indexing
The Invisible Archive is where the lost pieces go to be reclaimed at a later point in time. It adds an aspect of delay into the system. Pieces are held for an indeterminate amount of time and then cast back into the system. It is a home for the homeless. Sounds throughout the system are collected, indexed, and re released at a later point.
**HOW**
How does it hold things?
How does it index them?
How does it release them into the system?
How does it decide what to collect?
Language Shredder: the [De]construction of Language and the [Re]construction of Thought
The language shredder does just what it implies; it takes apart language and reconstructs thought. It takes the output of the system of the library and deconstructs it.
Orchestra Pit: The Fine Tuning of Language
The orchestra pit is where the language of the system is born and tuned. The system as a whole operates as an orchestra in a theater. Pieces and connections are musical devices. The sounds and noises that are made by the constructions and connections in system are formulated by the orchestra pit into a new language, the language of construction.
**HOW**
How does it tune?
What does it collect?
What does it do with its output?
The Mask and the Masked: The Medusa Complex
The mask serves a dual role. It both hides and reveals what lies behind. Objects and motion in a text are not able to be directly experienced. The reader can not observe what the text is describing first hand. Here, these descriptions must be reconstructed in the reader’s imagination. Language masks and hides text. It is language that masks these descriptions from the reader by not allowing a one to one relationship between the two. This is because language is slippery. Language has no set and true meanings. Words can mean multiple things at the same time. Their meaning is completely dependent on the interpretation of the reader [observer]. At times the mask of language is clear, allowing the reader to understand the meanings intended, but this is a rare occurrence. Most often the multiple meanings of words gets in the way of their understanding. This makes the reader have to infer the actual meaning behind the text based upon his/her imagination and the context that the word is used in. Here, the masking of text by language forces the reader to construct the text in their imagination.
The Medusa Complex asks the same. Parts of the system are hidden from view. The system only allows small clues to come across to the observer: a sound here, a flash of light over there, a momentary reveal of an object up there. The observer in the system is forced to infer what is happening behind the mask, making the observer participate in the construction of experience within their own imagination. And by doing so, the medusa complex makes the observer aware of this construction that is taking place because what is behind the mask can never be fully revealed. For if it was, the observer would no longer be free to fully construct the experience in his/her mind. The Medusa Complex exploits this idea and forces the observer to become very aware of their imagination’s role in the construction of the system itself. The Library of Motion: Theater of the imagination does not exist in real space made up of real objects; it exists in the imagination of the observer themselves.
**HOW**
How does it mask?
What does it mask?
What does it reveal?
How does the mask work?
How does the mask affect the observer?
Linguistic Anchors: the Constraints of Language Space
Several pieces in the system are connected to linguistic anchors. These anchors restrict the motion of parts of the system. Connected to weights and other pieces of the system itself, they both restrict and affect the operation of the system as a whole. The anchors function in a similar way as language, they do not allow the parts of the system of the library to function as expected. Language is not an exact science and is left up to interpretation by the reader, and this interpretation, more so than not, is full of unexpected results.
**HOW**
How do the anchors attach themselves to the system?
What are they attached to?
How do they restrict the system?
What happens to the system when it is restricted?
Drop Zones: the Opening Up of the Imagination
The system contains a series of Drop Zones. These drop zones act as a way of letting the observer look through the system very quickly in order to experience its inner workings. They happen very quickly and only occur for a very brief period of time. They may not be noticed at first, but when they are discovered, the imagination is allowed to explode in ways never before thought. The Drop Zones bring the observer straight into the heart of the project, altering their experience forever.
**HOW**
How precisely do they work?
How is the observer’s point of view altered?
What happens to the system when these drops appear?
Nicod’s Traveling Theater: Act I The Object Act II the Non-Object
How are objects in text constructed by the reader? According to Jean Nicod, objects can be constructed from the sensory perception of geometry. It is the relationship between sense perception of an observer and geometry that make objects able to be explored without a direct relationship to the object itself. Unlike Nicod, here the interest is in the motion between the text and the reader. If an object is looked at, not for the object itself, but through the object, its construction, then a new experience of its essence can begin to be discovered. It is in this way of thinking that the object is allowed to be liberated from its physical form, letting the focus shift to the construction of the object instead of the object itself. Nicod argues that geometry [objects] can be understood as a series of lines separated by distance. This is an object’s fundamental state. When looked at in this way, the object is no longer needed in order to understand its geometry; its essence becomes a series of object-lines. Nicod’s traveling theater silently traverses these lines, moving back and forth, constructing and altering the foundations of the objects themselves.
These lines project out from the center, providing the theater with a means of travel. These lines travel throughout the system; at one time appearing as a single line in space and at other times appearing as multiple lines in multiple spaces. The theater’s foundation exists on these object-lines of geometry. Closely linked to the Reconstruction Apertures, these lines record and transfer the motion and constructions of the theater to the larger space as a whole. These new constructions of the theater now exist at the edge of the observer’s sight, the periphery of visual experience.
**HOW**
How does the theater construct?
What does the theater construct?
How do these constructions alter the operation of the system as a whole?
How does the theater move in the system?
What drives its movement?
The Language Lion: Conquering the Unconquerable
The Woman in Black: the Librarian: the Language Warden
The woman in Black is the governor of the system. She sits silently in the corner, watching all that is happening. Like a librarian, she waits for any opportunity to correct wrong doing. Waiting to pounce at the first chance she gets, the woman in black alters the system when the system becomes to regular. When things begin to become too clear, she blows her whistle, releasing pressure from the system and altering its operations.
**HOW**
How does it relate to the system?
What does it look for?
How does it determine when to disrupt the system?
**WHAT IS IT LIKE?**
Highly polished black smooth form
Plastic?
Black granite?
Black Marble?
Soft form relates to the body
Black rubber?
Size relates to the human body
Similar to a car or ship body
Reflective in an unusual way
References
Ann Hamilton
Marcel Duchamp
Salvador Dali
Theater Muse Dali, Fugges, Spain
Joseph Cornell
Surrealism
Wittgenstein
Derrida
So, we're offically on 'easter break' until the 23rd. That doesn't mean that work has stopped. We had a hand in on the 23rd of March of our first draft of our research reports. Here's what I turned in. The actual document is formatted in a very specific way with holes and drop zones. This is impossible to recreate on this blog, so I'm just going to post the actual unformatted text...enjoy.
This text here is an
unformatted text. Most of the content of this text also appears in the small
formatted text that is attached. I wanted to provide both so that the formatting
does not get in the way of the content and because the content of the text here
is more complete. Right now I think that the way I am trying to format the
smaller text at times gets in the way of the content of the text a bit and becomes
confusing to follow. The idea is that the formatted text is a book where funny
things begin to happen inside. It is meant to play with preconceived notions of
presentation and alter the normal book to reader relationship. The formatted
text opens up and exposes its construction so that the reader can begin to move
between the pieces and construct the text for them selves in their
imaginations. It is meant to make the reader very aware of this construction
process. There is one main text, written in a more academic style. This text
becomes altered and supplemented by various pieces and drop zones. These drops
pull the reader through the text, both conceptually, in content, and
physically, in pages. The idea is that as the text progresses, the academically
written text begins to unravel and have pieces move in, out and over it. The current
version is not yet at this stage, but the hope is that it soon will be.
Text does not move
It stands still on the floor
On the desk or the shelf
Its life is a bore
It sits
And waits
Silent and still
Not moving one inch
No sign of free will
Waiting there calmly
It sits and it thinks
Not able to move
The smallest part of its ink
Until it’s discovered
By someone one day
Who looks on the shelf
And thinks “by the way”
“Look at that book
So lonely and bare
I think I’ll go get it
And give it a stare”
Awake from its slumber
It’s ready to go
Excited and eager
To join in the flow
Thoughts and ideas
Pass from one to the next
Causing confusion
And states of duress
What do you mean?
How can I know?
Where to begin?
And where should I go?
“You do not make sense”
He said to the book
“How do you have meaning?”
Let me take one more look
“It’s all right in here”
Said the book to the man
“You have to construct it
As much as you can”
“But how is this done?”
Asked the man to the book
“When you’re full of misreadings
And need three of four looks?”
Its all in your head
You know its all there
Just give it a try
And don’t give a care
Your imagination is key
That’s where I exist
You have to construct me
You can not resist
“My imagination is dull”
Said the man to the book
“I no longer use it
It’s not worth the look”
But what do you mean?
How is this so?
Your imagination is key
Didn’t you know
It’s how I exist
In the space in-between
My self and your brain
You know what I mean?
But how can I see it
I know that its there
it just isn’t clear
It’s becoming a bear
But where is the logic
This does not make sense
To think in this way
With no sound pretense
Motion text seems a funny thing to explore
Text does not move
It stands still
On the desk or on the bookshelf
It sits
And waits
Still and silent
Not moving one inch
Preserving itself for the future
waiting
Until it is picked up by the curious reader
Then it all begins…
The turning of the pages
The moving of the eyes
The transfer of the author’s thoughts
To the imagination of the reader
The construction of ideas
In the space in-between
It is here that the text takes a new life.
It moves in and out,
Up and down,
Existing in the space between itself and the reader.
It breathes,
it cries,
it moves slowly and then jerks to the left unexpectedly.
Words have multiple meanings, hidden agendas, and unclear
directions. The motion of text is wrapped around and hidden in the complexities
of the signs and symbols that it is constructed from. Meaning makes words
slippery, causing the reader to stop and ponder their multiple messages. This
hidden motion is one way that makes it possible for a text to have multiple
meanings and readings. Text is slippery. One can never get a strong grip on it
for the second one does it slips out the other side and spills onto the floor.
One can not hold on to something that is constantly shifting and changing for
there is no place to hold.
**DROP**
Perception is a funny thing. I’m sitting at the base of Lord Nelson’s column in Trafalgar square. I needed to get some fresh air. Only seeing the inside of my small flat an the studio at the Bartlett was starting to get to me, enough to drive anyone slightly mad, more mad than I already was. I needed a walk. I ended up here.
So, here I am. I’ve been here before many times. But each
time is different. My perspectives change, I’ve grown older, had more experiences
and such. I’d say that there is an essence to this place, that I’m sure of. ; I know what it is and what its like. I can
describe it pretty well, but each time I’m there its different. This time I
notice the pigeons flocking all around me because of the one that tried to land
on my head. I notice the way the sun hits the statues and the faint sound of an
opera singer in the distance and all this makes this experience different from
the others. It’s these little unexpected parts of the experience that make it
different from the last one and from the one to come next.
I begin to think how this is similar to reading a text, since that has been on my mind lately. It seems that everything I think always comes back to this. I think this experience is similar to how I can read and re read a text so often that I know it back to front, but each time I find new things in it that I didn’t see before. The constructions that I make from the text are different each time. This is because it’s about experience. If I was reading a book about while I was in Trafalgar square it would be different than if I read the same book in my flat or on a train. I think context has a lot to do with it the construction of the text in my imagination. The context makes each experience different. This is because I am never isolated when I read something. There is always more there then just myself and the text. Noises, light, temperature, these all have an affect on the construction of the text in my imagination.
**DROP WITHIN DROP** [Discuss the concept of the inertial observer.]
Several weeks have passed. I’m now at my desk in the studio space at the . Its cold and raining outside, but I could never tell since I am secluded in my little corner of the world surrounded by images and references of things that I find interesting and things that relate to the work of my thesis. I’m here re-reading this text and I begin to see this idea in a new way. The way we experience things in the world has mostly to do with how we observe the situations that we are in. We can never experience something singularly. When I was at Trafalgar square and I was ‘observing’ the column, I was actually seeing and experiencing much more than just the column. The sky, the people, the birds, the busses, these all were part of the experience of my experience of the column at this particular time. It brings me to an idea that I ran across recently of the inertial observer and frames of reference. The inertial observer is a concept taken from physics, more specifically from Einstein and the theory of relativity. It deals with the concept of the observer being immersed in the system instead of outside the system.
These unexpected factors all try to affect my construction by pushing and pulling at my imagination, trying to make it wonder away from the text that I am reading. And all of these factors influence how I construct the text. They get into my imagination and a whole new construction begins to take shape.
**Back to First Drop**
It’s like this experience, the one I’m having right now. I’ve never really noticed the large bronze lions at the base of Nelson’s column before. Sure, I’ve seen them and I knew that they were there, but I’ve never seen them this way before. Everyone wants to climb them and I’m just waiting for one of these kids to slip off of and onto the floor. That would serve them right…punks. A few have been close, but everyone’s managed to stay on. I begin to think…This makes me think of how language functions in the construction of thought. [Again, everything in my mind lately seems to go towards this, text, language, thought…] The lion is slippery and hard to hold on to. Despite this, everyone wants to climb on top. It’s not easy. It’s hard to get your balance and keep a tight grip. It makes you very aware of yourself and the struggle to not let the lion win and throw you off. But everyone wants to conquer the lion because the view from the top is so much better than from on the ground. After the long battle, you finally reach the top, the view is amazing. But the second that you reach the top of the lion, a whistle blows from the distance and out of nowhere a woman in all black comes and makes you climb down.
Language is a slippery lion. We want to climb it, to control it, but it is not an easy task. Humans have an instinctual desire to understand and conquer other things. We want to be on top. But with language, this is impossible. When we think we have finally gained control of the language lion, it rears its head and the language warden knocks you down. Language can never be conquered. It can only be experienced momentarily. So, when you reach the top of the lion, enjoy the view for it will not last forever. This is because language does not belong to anyone and it can not be claimed or conquered. It is only able to be experienced in short, glorious bursts. Take advantage of these moments, for they are the moments to live for.
But it is exactly in this slippage that the interesting things begin to take place. Language is the grease in the machine of literature. It helps it to flow, but at the same time it makes it slip. Language is text’s fickle friend. It helps the reader to understand at the same time is masks this understanding in doubt. It plays both sides of the deck, cheating at any chance it can get. But this is also its power. It forces the reader to construct the ideas and scenarios in their imagination.
The text can never be discovered because it is always shrouded in doubt by the reader. The reader does not know exactly what the text is trying to say. It is so tightly wrapped around itself that it can not escape. Caught in the straitjacket of language, it is stuck. The text is able to move a bit here and a bit there, but it is constrained. This is because text is constructed from language, and language is an ambiguous animal. Words and text do not carry with them any meanings*. The meanings of language are constructions; ideas ascribed to words by the reader. The reader of a text constructs the meaning of words and phrases in his or her imagination. But the text does give hints as to its intended meanings, but not enough to fully understand. The meaning is left to be created by the reader. All the text asks is for someone to find the loose thread and give it a pull, unraveling the sweater in order to imagine what lies beneath; the potential of motion in the construction of the text in the reader’s imagination.
Language constrains and hides things that do not actually
exist in real space. It catches things in its web as it moves and it is
reluctant to loosen its grip. Once it takes hold, it is difficult to escape.
But the things that it catches only exist in the space between the text and the
reader; between the text and the imagination.
What is motion text?
This definition is what the thesis project is trying to explore. Text, language and literature are all machines of communication. A text’s inherent purpose is to communicate the ideas of the author to the reader. Motion is an intrigal part of this text / language / literature machine. Motion in a text exists in many ways simultaneously. **HOW** The way a text is structured, or written, has inherent motion in it. The text itself is also full of motion. **EXAMPLES** Some texts are said to read fast and others are said to read slow. How can this be? The most amazing thing is that two people can read the same text and have opposite feelings. One says it read fast and the other could hardly get through it. Here are a few quick ways that motion exists in text:
Structural Motion:
This is motion that exists in the text’s structure, this being the length of words and the spaces between them, punctuation and sentence length, etc. This is the most primitive and obvious form of motion in text.
Example:
My fat cat can run
My extraordinarily obese feline, despite her weight, can move very rapidly.
Representational Motion:
This is motion that exists in the text’s layout. How the text is laid out or presented in a graphic format. This is the physical way a text is laid out on a page that makes the reader have to experience the text in a more fluid way. This is evident in House of Leaves and other spatial novels. These texts allow for the reader to be brought in to the work in a new way. The representation of the text on the page helps the reader to construct the text in a different way than if the text was presented as just a normal book read front to back. ’**for an example see appaenix A pg #444.**
Example:
He ran cutting across the field
He
ran
c
u
t
t
i
n
g
across
the
field
Communicational Motion:
This is motion that exists in the space between the text and the reader. It is the motion of the imagination engaged in the construction of thought. There is some type of motion that exists in this space. It is the motion of an idea as it is communicated across a space. It is also the motion of the content of the text passing from the text to the reader. This motion deals with the construction of a thought in the reader’s imagination. This is the key to literature. In its basic form, this is how the machine of literature operates. The ideas and thoughts that the author is trying to communicate must cross this space and be re-constructed by the reader. This is the reason that no two readers will ever experience the same thing from a text, and no one reader will ever experience the same text the same way twice.
Example:
The text describes a warm sunny place. Reader one thinks of , the beach, the sand and the surf. Reader 2 thinks of the sunlight coming through the bedroom window warming up the floor and his cat stretched out on lazily on the window sill.
The interest becomes not in motion in text
But in motion of text
There is a difference, albeit a subtle one.
One is the way the language makes the text move
The other is the way text and language makes the reader move.
The hidden motion of literature and the Alchemist's pataphysical search for the object in a world where no objects exist are of great interest here. What happens when the object is no longer? How are objects from the text re-created in the mind of the reader? When the straightjacket is loosened the objects that are caught are allowed to escape. The space that remains is allowed to be re-inhabited by something else. The cavities are allowed to be re-occupied by the imagination as the presence of the object begins to fill in the space between the text and the reader.
Imagination: the space of construction
The constructions in the imagination
The alchemy of thought
The movement between the fixed and the unknown
This is where motion text becomes more interesting. The motion of text that blindly navigates the fluxuating space of the imagination; the readers varying frames of perception. How does it move and what is its guide? Here, in this zone of construction is where the interesting motion in text occurs.
As humans, we are always building and constructing the world that we experience. We construct in our imaginations. It is how we experience anything. It is also the reason that no two people can have the same experience. The imagination constantly engages in the act of construction. But this construction is different, for it does not deal with objects that physically exist. It is more concerned with the construction process itself. We are in a constant process of construction that exists in the space in between ourselves and the world around us.
The problem comes when the imagination is not treated as a
valid way of constructing the world around us. Society looks down on the
imagination. Instead, reason and scientific discovery are seen as good as the
imagination is seen as a childish way to deal with world. This idea is
something thar Alberto Perez Gomez has discussed at length.
The poetical content of reality, the a priori of the world,
which is the ultimate frame of reference for any truly meaningful architecture,
is hidden beneath a thick layer of formal explanations. Because positivistic
thought has made it a point to exclude mystery and poetry, contemporary man
lives with the illusion of the infinite power of reason. He has forgotten his
fragility and his capacity for wonder, generally assuming that all the
phenomena of his world, from water or fire to perception or human behavior, have
been ‘explained.’ For many architects, myth and poetry are generally considered
synomonous with dreams and lunacy, while reality is deemed equivalent to
prosaic scientific theories. In other words, mathematical logic has been
substituted for metaphor as a model of thought. Art can be beautiful, of
course, but only seldom is it understood as a profound form of knowledge, as a
genuine, intersubjective interpretation of reality. And architecture
particularly, must never partake of the alleged escapism of the other fine
arts; it has to be, before anything else, a paradigm of efficient and
economical construction.
Component#001 Nicod’s Traveling Theater
How are objects in text constructed by the reader? According to Jean Nicod, objects can be constructed from the sensory perception of geometry. It is the relationship between sense perception of an observer and geometry that make objects able to be explored without a direct relationship to the object itself. Unlike Nicod, here the interest is in the motion between the text and the reader. If an object is looked at, not for the object itself, but through the object, its construction, then a new experience of its essence can begin to be discovered. It is in this way of thinking that the object is allowed to be liberated from its physical form, letting the focus shift to the construction of the object instead of the object itself. Nicod argues that geometry [objects] can be understood as a series of lines separated by distance. This is an object’s fundamental state. When looked at in this way, the object is no longer needed in order to understand its geometry; its essence becomes a series of object-lines. Nicod’s traveling theater silently traverses these lines, moving back and forth, constructing and altering the foundations of the objects themselves.
These lines project out from the center, providing the theater with a means of travel. The theater’s foundation exists on the object-lines of geometry. These lines also record and transfer the motion and constructions of the theater to other constructions that exist at the edge of the observer’s sight, the periphery of visual experience.
Component #oo2_The Mask and the Masked: The Medusa
Complex
Imagine something is coming to your door. You only see it through the frosted glass that separates you from the outside world. You can never tell what exactly is lurking on the other side of the glass. Then you hear a click and a small white paper falls through the mail slot and lands on the floor. You never actually saw the thing on the other side of the glass. You are forced to construct the object outside through colors, light, shadow, and sound. The glass masks the physical object (letter carrier) outside.
The mask serves a dual role. It both hides and reveals what
lies behind. Objects and motion in a text are not able to be directly
experienced. The reader can not observe what the text is describing first hand.
Here, these descriptions must be reconstructed in the reader’s imagination.
Language masks and hides text.
**DROP**
The construction of an object in my mind, this got me thinking a bit. I know that it’s dangerous when my mind wonders, but follow me here. I’m sitting on a cold Sunday afternoon at a café in . People keep coming in and out. The line continually grows until it hangs out the door and then it is non existent; the ebb and flow of urban life.
**DROP WITHIN DROP**
Life and experience can never be the same twice. Here too
I’m leaving it up to you to construct this experience. Can you see how sneaky
this is? You weren’t at the café. You have no idea what it was actually like to
be there. But the in the short description that I just gave, you constructed
the situation in your mind. This is the motion of text at work! I could go on
for pages and pages painstakingly describing every aspect of the place, but no
matter how much I describe the whiteness of the ceiling or the harshness of the
light as it falls over my laptop, or the clanking of the glasses, you will
never be able to have the same experience. It’s just impossible. This is
because you construct the place in your mind based on your past experiences.
You begin to construct the possibilities of what this place was like, and this
all happens in the space between this text and your imagination.
**BACK TO FIRST DROP**
I look up and notice the cheesecake that someone has just ordered. I began to wonder. I know it’s just a piece of cheesecake, but still. I started to think: if I see an object and don’t touch it, taste it, smell it, or hear it, is this the same thing that happens with objects in literature? I ponder this for a moment… thinking…wondering… I mean, in text there are no physical conditions linked to the description of an object. Its existence is completely left up to your imagination. In the cheesecake at the café, I saw it. There was one less ambiguity for me to construct in my mind. I could tell what kind it was, its size, color, and texture. This was a given. If I had only read about it, I would have to construct the cheesecake completely in my mind. All decisions as to what this cheesecake is would be left to up to me. It could have been chocolate or raspberry with red swirls. I don’t know. The written description would be my only guide. The rest would be up to me. I guess that this situation is not the same as an object in literature. Text and language leave these choices entirely up to me. If the text says that the cheesecake has red swirls, the question now is what color red? I’m left to imagine this as well. If I see the actual cheesecake, then I am no longer left to ponder the color, since it is right in front of me. Text leaves all the choices up to me and me alone. You see? An object can not actually exist in text because the motion of its construction always gets in the way. This is the dilemma. Ok, I think this is enough for now. I don’t want to bore you. I don’t even like cheesecake in the first place. Just the smell makes me nautious. I guess that’s what happens with too much talk about objects and language.
It is language that masks these descriptions from the reader by not allowing a one to one relationship between the two. This is because language is slippery. Language has no set and true meanings. Words can mean multiple things at the same time. Their meaning is completely dependent on the interpretation of the reader [observer]. At times the mask of language is clear, allowing the reader to understand the meanings intended, but this is a rare occurrence. Most often the multiple meanings of words gets in the way of their understanding. This makes the reader have to infer the actual meaning behind the text based upon his/her imagination and the context that the word is used in. Here, the masking of text by language forces the reader to construct the text in their imagination. The Medusa Complex asks the same. The observer in the system is forced to infer what is happening behind the mask, making the observer participate in the construction of experience within their own imagination. And by doing so, the medusa complex makes the observer aware of this construction that is taking place because what is behind the mask can never be fully revealed. For if it was, the observer would no longer be free to fully construct the experience in his/her mind. The imagination would be turned to stone and would no longer be of any use.
Construction #003 Orchastra Pit: The Fine Tuning of Language
Construction #004 Wittenstein’s Finger in the House of Poe
Construction #005 Flaubert’s Kettle
Construction #006 Linguistic Anchors
Construction #007 Debris Machine
Construction #008 Reconstruction Apertures: Textual Space Grafting
Construction #009 Differ(a)ence Generator
Component #010 Invisible Archive: Linguistic Indexing
Component #011 Language Shredder
The project is moving more towards the motion of the construction of ideas between the text and the reader. The questions are how do we construct thought? How are we able to create things that do not exist in our imaginations? We are continuously constructing the world in out imagination, but these constructions do not exist in a physical form. This is the key to being creative and to human existence as a whole. I think that this is the interesting part of what I'm trying to explore over here.
The inertial observer
The thought deals with an observer and hei / her frame of reference. It's a term taken from Einsteinian Science where an observer is in a consistent motion in relation to what he / she is observing. This is interesting with regards to the imagination and to motion text because the observer can be separate from their reference frames. The observer is always in motion, regardless if they are aware of it or not and their relationship to what is being observe is always changing. This is because the observer constructs the observation in their imagination based on their reference frames, which are always hanging based on their past experiences.
The language of the system
The Grammar of the System
The material conditions of its parts
The constructional logic of the system (both physically and intellectually)
Here are some thoughts on working methods originally introduced to me by Perry Kulper at SCI_Arc.
Analogical Thinking
This is like that. I want my living room to be like the section through a trombone. It is a good way to free associate and move ideas away from the abstract and into a physical construction (drawing, model, construct). It helps you to begin to understand what these ideas are like physically.
Form to Content
Just what it sounds like; make a form and then put content into it. Think of work like Frank Gehry.
Content to Form
The opposite of form to content. The content of the work is developed first and then the forms are derived from the content. This makes for forms that are powerful in their meanings and reasons for existence.
Automatic Practice
A Surrealist tactic. Basically, working without thinking about what it is while you are doing it. This method tries to access the subconscious mind. This is probabally the most difficult method to work with.
Gestural Interpretation
Interpreting gestures or marks.
Plagiarism
Claiming someone else’s work as your own. It raises very interesting questions and is a legitimate way to produce work. You just have to be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it.
Appropriation
This method is similar to Plagiarism but with a different intent. Here, the intent is not to claim other’s work as your own, but to take something from the work of others. Methods, working tactics, materials, and forms are just a few things that can be appropriated. The idea of working with the jagged line can be a tactic that is appropriated from the work of Daniel Libeskind. Here, what is produced is original to the person doing the appropriating.
Metaphorical Thinking
This is that. This method deals with constructing metaphors in order to push the work out of abstract ideas and into a physical construction. My house is a trumpet. Unlike Analogical thinking, where qualities are important, Metaphorical Thinking is concerned with one to one relationships.
Parametric Modeling
This is simply the modeling parameters. A set of conditions is chosen to study and then a model is constructed that describes these conditions. A diagram falls under this category. An example would be a drawing of the debris field of the World Trade Center site after 9/11.
Narrative Structures
The constructing of a narrative (story) that the work is based on. One example would be to design a building based on the life of Datalus, the Greek architect of the Labyrinth.