Week 4: Index

Notes on the Index:

Part 1

1. Krauss describes the shifter as a device used by Acconci to shift the viewers perception from viewing art to being self-aware. When in architecture is it important to make the user/viewer self-aware?
2. What is the index and how does it relate to the shifter?
3. Can architectural photography act as a valid index of space and experience?
1. In Krauss’s view, this ‘snapshot’ is the ‘readymade’ which in her view is empty. Do you agree or disagree?
4. Krauss clarifies the idea of the index by Duchamp’s ‘With My Tongue in My Cheek’. In this example, she uses the casting of the face as the index, and the self-portrait as the icon. How can this duality be applied in architecture?

Part 2

1. Describe what Krauss means when she says a photograph is like a ‘message without code’.
1. When a text is provided as a supplementary description to a piece of art, does that explanation become one that guides or misguides the audience? Or both?
2. Krauss juxtaposes the art work of Pozzi and Kelly to help define the index in its immediate context. Is this something that we as architects can liken to the idea of site context? Should our design intent be as obvious as Pozzi’s panintings?
3. Krauss describes the work of Gordan Matta Clark at p.s.1 as: “bringing the building into consciousness of the viewer in the form of a ghost”, in this example does the building represent the index?
4. The photograph can be seen as a paradox – “presence seen as past” Explain Krauss’ argument/examples.
5. Can we use indexing to sub- consciously affect our audiences understanding of our design?