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….)
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