Week 05_Index

1.    On  page 198 of Krauss’ Notes on the Indexwe are introduced to the painting Tu m by Marcel Duchamp. How do you think this influenced the ideas of an index?

2.    What medium is best to represent something? Are there pieces of the physical object lost in photography, painting, or drawing? Can these differences be used to our advantage in architecture?

3.    Deborah Hay gave a performance in which she explained to her audience “instead of dancing, she wished to talk” Was she successful in her attempt to become completely in touch with her body? Is the form of linguistic index completely different from an index of movement of the human body?

4.    In part 2 of Krauss’ Notes on the Index, she explains that dance is no longer interpreted as something symbolic but as an index. Are signs and indexes viewed differently by different cultures?

05 INDEX - Krauss

Question Set #1

Krauss quotes Barthes as writing “Photography set up, in effect, not a perception of the being-there of an object (which all copies are able to provoke), but a perception of its having-been-there. It is a question therefore of a new category of space-time: spatial immediacy and temporal anteriority.”

Do you agree with this experience of photography? How does the photo-realistic capability of architectural representation in this era fit into this view? I think most of us would agree that providing “spatial immediacy” is a regular goal. But are we also provoking a sense of “having-been-there”? Why, or why not?

Question Set #2

Although photo manipulation existed long before the digital era, Krauss seems to view and trust photography as a medium mostly faithful and connected to reality. Today, in a world filled with powerful digital photo-manipulation tools, images are inherently suspect as indexical or traces of reality. After all, architects can create an entirely new world modeled and detailed in a computer without tracing anything (or are we still unknowingly tracing/indexing something?).  

How much do we trust photography to accurately document “reality”? Does lack of trust effect the artistic expression potential or power of the medium? If so, what does that mean for how we move architectural representation forward?      

Question Set #3

Krauss describes a performance by a professional dancer, Deborah Hay, who explained to her audience that instead of dancing, she wished to talk. In her case the aspiration for dance was to be in touch with the movement of every cell in her body and to have recourse to speech. At that time she could no longer find justification for performing routines of movement in that effort, so instead she spoke.

What would happen if an architecture student did this during a final critique or during an important client meeting? (Or maybe a better question is what would be the architectural equivalent?) Are our objectives/motivations for practicing architecture similar, or connected in some way, to Hay’s attempt to be in touch with every cell in her body or to be fully present? In typical architectural circumstances, is the representation indexical to the architectural vision/inspiration, or is the final vision/product an index to the representation?

Question Set #4

What was your favorite piece of art referenced by Krauss and why? Was understanding the indexical qualities of that piece vital to your appreciation of it? (Examples of references are Acconci’s “Airtime,” Duchamp’s pieces, Oppenheim’s “Identity Stretch,” Askevold’s “The Ambit: Part I,” Hay's dance/talk, etc….)

05 INDEX

     REQUEST: Everyone, please be prepared to discuss three things related to   Krauss' readings.

1.      Something that intrigued you…

2.      Something that you disagree with…

3.      Something that a classmate will talk about… 

QUESTIONS:

# 1, 1 1/2:

    Krauss talks about the “psychic gestalt” (Part 1, p. 197, bottom) as well as the Symbolic and the contrasting Imaginary stage of Development (Part 1, p. 198, top).

    In general, Gestalt is a phenomenon in the field of psychology (actually, a whole branch). Along with other terms that are well known in psychology, Gestalt isn’t discussed in the reading even though it refers to it. In short, it studies the whole as a sum of its parts (Similarity, Closure, Continuity, Common Movement, Proximity and Figure-Ground). In addition, Gestalt also refers to theories of visual perception: principles that we rely on while working on projects of sorts (Symmetry, Closure, Continuity, Order, Proximity, and Figure-Ground).

    If we think about the symbolic (with its somewhat clear characteristics) and the imaginary (in parallel to its innate mysticism) in terms of indexing means of visual production, does the imaginary have any place under the Strong Visual Techniques umbrella? Can it effectively adopt Gestalt characteristics without losing its enigmatic attributes?

# 2, 2 1/2:

    Marcel Duchamp is considered a genius (in his own right) by many, if not most artists and other people, due to the originality of his pieces (means of representation, ideas, etc.)

    How do you define originality? Is it something that you have never seen or dared to imagine before, or is it a mere representation of an idea that contradicts “your own” beliefs and assumptions about the world and its conventions which you “had no role in shaping”, or is it something else entirely?

# 3, 3 1/2:

    From the standpoint of general associations, ‘70s art and factions go hand in hand. ‘70s art diversity and presumed lack of a collective style may or may not be an indicator of an irrefutable difference.

    The Collective unconscious (a term presented by psychiatrist Carl Jung) represents “a form of the unconscious (that part of the mind containing memories and impulses of which the individual is not aware) common to mankind as a whole and originating in the inherited structure of the brain… collective unconscious contains archetypes, or universal primordial images and ideas” (www.britannica.com).

    Can ’70s factionalized nature actually be interpreted as a manifestation of the greater collective unconscious with all of its complexities (hence, the numerous factions in ‘70s art)? If so, can it be concluded then that 70’s art is not as diversified and original, but it is simply a representation of the complex whole as a sum of even more convoluted parts that we are not aware of, but already exist from the inside out?

Week 4: The Agency Of Mapping

• 1.       James Corner States, “What distinguishes the map from the tracing is that it is entirely oriented toward an experimentation in contact with the real. The map does not reproduce an unconscious closed in upon itself; it constructs the unconscious”.  In the studio or past studios you have been did you do mapping or tracing?
• 2.       Rem Koolhaus states “The generic city presents the final death of planning. Why? Not because it is unplanned . . . [but because] planning makes no difference whatsoever”  What Cities in your eyes are generic cities and why?
• 3.       “'Proto-urban conditions are like emotions ir-r human beings,' writes Bunschoten, 'subliminal conditions that strongly affect physical states and behavior”.  How can a static map capture something as dynamic as a city and something as subjective as human emotion?
• 4.       Layering, drifing and Rhizome are staple mapping techniques.  With new emerging technology what is going to be the next influential mapping technique?
• 5.       Would it be better to adapt a city (eg. Milwaukee and LA) over time? Or to manifest a perfect city then populate it (eg. Paris and Rome)?
• 

built city of Naypyidaw

Corner_The Agency of Mapping

1) "...given the importance of representational technique in the creative process, it is surprising that whilst there has been no shortage of new ideas and theories in design and planning there has been so little advancement and invention of those specific tools and techniques -- including mapping -- that are so crucial for the effective construal and construction of new worlds." (217) Maps have a specific purpose. Does that mean we should leave the way we map the same, or does it need to evolve with our ideas in order to show the more complicated and advanced ideas?

2) Maps are a tool that show specific information. How far can you go until a map is no longer a map but just an assortment of jumbled ideas or references?

Week 4 - The Agency of Mapping

1)      Corner states “…maps must by necessity be abstract if they are to sustain meaning and utility” (222). How abstract can a map be pushed until it loses its meaning and/or utility?

2)      The difference between planning and mapping is touched on throughout Corner’s writing. Mapping differs from planning in that it entails searching, finding and unfolding complex forces rather than imposing an idealized project from on high (228). For what purpose is the Urban Planner? Should such a role be better done by an “Urban Mapper”?

3)      Of the 4 thematic emerging practices of mapping, is there one practice that seems most useful in communicating ideas?

4)      “…Maps are sites for the imaging and projecting of alternative worlds. Thus maps are in-between the virtual and the real (225). Where do the 4 thematic practices of mapping fall on this spectrum?

5)      “The exploratory mapper detours around the obvious so as to engage what remains hidden” (225). Is one able to find hidden connections within the obvious?

Week 4 - The Agency of Mapping

1) In describing and advocating more open-ended forms of creativity, philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari declare: ‘Make a map not a tracing!’. What is the difference between the two and why is it important to understand the difference? (pg 214) 

2) When looking at Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion map in comparison to a Mercator projection map, how do they compare and contrast? Why is it imporant to examine them in relation to each other? (pg 217)

3) Corner says that “Unlike paintings and photographs, which have the capacity to bear a direct resemblance to the things they depict, maps must by necessity be abstract if they are to sustain meaning and utility... such abstraction....(is) their virtue.” Do you agree with this? How does this relate to the two fables (by Jorge Luis Borge and Lewis Carroll) that Corner summarized?  (pg 221-222)

4) Corner describes the operational structure of mapping as consisting of ‘fields’, ‘extracts’, and ‘plottings’. Of the three, he says that  the set-up of the field is one of the most creative acts in mapping. Do you agree and if so, do you think this makes the field more important than either 'extracts' or 'plottings'? (pg 229)

5) Corner describes four techniques for mapping: drift, layering, game-board, rhizome. Which of these four do you think might lead to the greatest discoveries in mapping? Which technique do you think is the most abstract? (pg 231)

Rushmore

1. Zahran
2. Kudlata
3. Weis
4. Adams
5. Milkova
6. Doan

The Royal Tenenbaums [CLOSED]

1. Osowski
2. Schenck
3. Campbell
4. Paradis
5. Kerst
6. Fishbaine
7. Zahran
8. Bahr

The Grand Budapest Hotel

1. Havlovitz
2. Katz
3. Washburn
4. Gorrell
5. Van Grinsven
6. Zahran

Discussion Leaders Fall 2018

Week 03: Shenck, Paradis, Fishbane
Week 04: Washburn, Osowski, Van Grinsven, Kerst
Week 05: Havlovitz, Milkova, Adams

Week 07: Osowski, Weis, Campbell, Paradis
Week 08: Havlovitz, Washburn, Van Ginsven, Zahran
Week 09: Milkova, Katz, Doan

Week 11: Bahr, Kudlata, Fishbaine, Zahran
Week 12: Katz, Adams, Gorrell
Week 13: Bahr, Kudlata
Week 14: Schenck, Kerst, Gorrell
Week 15: Campbell, Doan, Weis