reading responses for tuesday october 8th
There are two more essays to read: Vibrant Matter and Scapeland.
Re: Scapeland, Amanda asks you to consider:
1- “In order to have a feel for a landscape you must have to lose our feeling of place.” How does your feeling of place hinder your perception of the landscape?
2- Lyotard writes of solitude and the lowering defenses of the mind, so that only “self is left”. What examples from your life reflect this state?
Re: Vibrant Matter, Ben writes:
Bennett implies that we (humans) compartmentalize the world into 2
categories: vibrant and not. However, if we assume that humans do
slightly better, specifically that we compartmentalize into 3
categories, humans, other animate matter, and inanimate matter, the
problem of defining where to place the boundaries between each category
becomes infinitely more complex.
1) How do we, as designers, consider thoughtfully the
perception\existence of these boundaries in our designs? Where do we
place the boundaries?
2) How can we, as designers, scrape away and unearth the latent
potential that exists\doesn’t exist in “nonhuman” bodies to engage in a
MEANINGFUL dialogue with policy makers?
1. “In order to have a feel for a landscape you must have to lose our feeling of place.” How does your feeling of place hinder your perception of the landscape?
I think the initial obstacle that a sense of place presents to my perception of the landscape is just that: initial. Landscape is highly impersonal, completely indifferent to my sense of place, even more so to my existence. To landscape, I am simply matter, the “element in the datum which has no destiny”. Landscape terrifies me in it’s indifference for me. That is the initial reaction. Perhaps that same fear, for some, was the catalyst for frontier expansion, manifest destiny, trips to the moon and beyond, a general struggle to come to terms with the unknowability of the unknown.
But when the initial instant of fear subsides, and it is exquisitely brief, landscape reminds me: “Love consists of this: that two solitudes meet, protect, and greet each other.” (Rainier Marie Rilke)
2. Lyotard writes of solitude and the lowering defenses of the mind, so that only “self is left”. What examples from your life reflect this state?
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi writes about his theory of “Flow”, an optimal state in which one is completely absorbed in action. Performance of various kinds, improvisational comedy, drama, athletics, studio work, have always brought me into a state of flow. The state accommodates a necessary impersonality to the situation, a simultaneous absence and presence, absence from meta thinking about the situation, presence, completely, in action. It is a purity of existence in which the speed of thought coincides with the speed of action, both producing the sensation of life as a synthesizing conduit where thought and action are the inputs and intense experiential beauty the distillate.
I felt this last when dancing.
Scapeland
1. In one of my intro lectures at Berkeley, Professor Jean-Paul Bourdier spoke about architecture being both something one looks at and one feels. I feel the relationship between place and landscape is similar. Both are essential but you can not be aware of both at the same time. The New York example really hit home with me. While remembering the city I have a clear picture of details about the place but only through a deliberate effort can I understand the landscape.
2. I think to often then not one perceives from others what one is projecting. Therefor by releasing those “defenses” one is more capable of learning and accepting new ideas.
Vibrant Matter
1. I do not think as designers that we consider these boundaries. The idea of thinking about matter as “living” seems to foreign. I feel that perhaps to condition our minds to tackle this concept we must first investigate Erin’s comment about beauty being something that can also scares us.
2. Again, it is hard for me to grasps this idea of “vibrant matter” and its powers in effecting change. I feel the best way to engage in meaningful dialogue is with action.
Scapeland”
1. Your feeling of place may be based on a preconceived notion or definition of the type of place. If the landscape is defined, then it is being limited by the definition, when a key piece of the landscape is that it should be limitless. If you look at the landscape and define it as mountains, you may miss the beautiful plains at its base, or forget to wonder what is beyond the mountain.
2. I’m not entirely sure if I understand the question, but I’ll do my best. The first thing that comes to mind is stargazing in silence. I’m usually not actively looking for constellations or judging anything. It is dark, so I’m not concerned with how I am being seen. I am usually in a sleeping bag, so I feel warm, and like my needs are being met. I’m free to lie there in bewilderment, wondering if I might see something, but knowing that I cannot know what is out there, and feeling like the sky and the universe just goes on and on without limit.
Vibrant Matter
1) I don’t think we can place the boundaries for others through design. First you have to open your mind. It seems the life cycle analysis begins to touch upon this. However, even in that case, we are measuring the energy, and not necessarily making the final traces that the energy is also a part of us. When doing a life cycle analysis, you define the boundaries in the beginning to prevent yourself from going on infinitely. You stop at the embodied energy of the equipment, not taking into account what the equipment operator (or even designer) had for lunch that day, and how that lunch was made. I once had a professor (who was also a raw foodist) state: “Whatever you eat is becoming a human.” Before this, I had seen food as energy, passing through – changing the way I felt perhaps, but not becoming me. I think productive design can result from changing the boundaries. Much in the way we change scales, we can change constituency groups. Does this building work for people? Does this building work for the surrounding ecology? How will a detriment to ecology come to affect the people?
2) We make the actant qualities of the boundaries visible to others. For example, we communicate visually how many SUVs worth of pollution a building my create. When I was working at an off-the-grid eco-lodge in Nicaragua, there was no municipal collection for garbage, so the managers just started saving all the plastic that couldn’t be recycled, because there was no responsible way of dealing with it practically. It was sitting in bags stacked up along a shed. It was quite powerful knowing that any wrapper thrown away at the lodge would potentially end up sitting there for years. The physical space it took up alluded to the real consequences of a wasteful lifestyle. I may not respect the pile of trash as a sentient being, but I can acknowledge the affect of my actions through the physical manifestation of the pile. If you cannot see the problem then you cannot fix it.
I did not really connect with Lyotard’s description of landscape, as something that is wholly indifferent and beyond ourselves. While I relate to the immense scale as something that is hard to grasp, taking us out of place. Is there some kind of landscape qua landscape? I still believe that our participation-observation of a scene is what creates our sense of it: we are critical somehow…
Solitude does have the ability to reduce the distractions of the body and mind, but is the “self” left, or is it actually a lack of “self” that is the penultimate experience when solitude is real and sustained? When deep in the backcountry, where people are the exception, and I live off my few things, then I give over to the scene, the place and the landscape, forgetting the”world of man”, of which my self is a part.
For Vibrant Matter:
I think the boundaries exist already, so our job as designers is to illuminate and delineate them. If we wish to blur them, then we do so thoughtfully, with the intentiont that by doing so the vibrancy is more apparent as a 1+1=3. Calling out these different modes of vibrancy is part of a spectrum of life, that at its core is the same, only expressed different degrees to our perception. How to make the invisible visible in this respect is the designer’s challenge.
The role of nonhuman bodies when dealing with politics is determined by the kind and amount of function those bodies exude. For politicians, this may most easily be explained through ecological services those nonbodies provide US HUMANS. This gives them a priviledged status, and can be respected as essential, for us first, and so for themselves as well. Taking these elements BEYOND DECORATION, and into service for us and the ecosystem it is already a part of–this is the role of an ecologically minded designer.
Scapeland
1.)I think that having a feeling of place is related to a sense of comfort. When you are comfortable, you don’t necessary cognitively recognize your comfort, or what made you comfortable or the situation around you, you just go on feeling complacent. When you are not comfortable, you become more aware of your environment, of everything that is going on around you, of the reasons you’re not comfortable and do not have a this sense of place. By starting to analyze and understand your lack of comfort and place, you are then able to understand and perceive more about your landscape.
It’s kind of like bad design, you never notice something until it becomes a problem, then you start to analyze it and study why its wrong. This may just be a tendency of designers and architect like ourselves though.
2.)I think immediately to my experiences at concerts, especially those shows that I am extremely into. Usually the incredible noise and vibrations of the music that I experience almost allow me to isolate and withdraw into myself. I often go back and forth between being into the music and this sense of withdrawal. I feel I can only sense what I am thinking and nothing of my external environment is noticeable. The overwhelming satiation of the sense allows me to disconnect from them further in a way.
Vibrant Matter:
1.) As architects, we have to have to be generalists. We have to consider little pieces of a whole lot of our world to be successful. Because of this, we should not place boundaries on what we consider about the world. We need to open up to everything, whether considering matter vibrant or not, to make better decisions and better designs. We need to consider the existence of these boundaries solely as informing a better understanding of the world and to learn more on how to perceive the world we design in.
2.)The latent potentials that exist in “nonhuman” bodies will only be considered meaningful if we can convince the public and policy makers of their direct personal benefits. An example of this is Bennet’s use of omega-3 fatty acids. If the argument for considering the latent potential of vibrant matter in relation to omega-3 fatty acids frames them as something that can personally affect someone and personally benefit someone, people will be interested. Once I know that these molecules help me live longer or benefit my life, then I understand and start to appreciate their existence. Putting things at a level an individual can understand, such as Kelly’s point of “SUVs worth of pollution”, makes this discussion of “nonhuman” bodies far more real and relative. This is the approach that much of the work we did in the Seminar on Building Materials in trying to relate and understand the activity of concrete.
Lyotard:
1) Feeling of place doesn’t hinder your perception because a landscape means nothing until you look at it and feel a response. The word landscape is tied to vision by definition, which in turn is tied to interpretation, if nothing more than the brain processing the data.
2) Defenses are part of self, but self is always changing depending on the environment so it might be easier to say that being alone allows self to become more relaxed and less guarded. Some kind of meditation or just being home alone can put the self in this state. It would vary depending on the person.
Bennett:
1) The boundaries are just a way of classifying matter so the murkiness in distinction doesn’t really matter in terms of architecture – it’s just word games. I do think that when we speak of making buildings ‘come alive’ we’re talking about bring a material or experience to conscious attention in a way that is positive for a human to experience and in this way we can give ‘life’ to matter.
2) We’re talking about a cultural shift in consciousness toward a ‘non-human body’ which usually only occurs when something becomes dangerous or valuable. Attach a dollar value to it and policy makers will notice. I’m not sure that counts as meaningful dialogue though.
1 – I agree that there humans are predisposed to experience a landscape through the lens of our past experiences or cultural history. In reality, there is little of the land, if any that hasn’t been influenced by some sort of human impact. “It used to be said that landscapes – pagus, those borderlands where matter offers itself up in a raw state before being tamed – were wild because they were, in Northern Europe, always forests”. I would argue however, (and agree with some of the comments above) that it is our definitions of place that actually allow us to process landscapes. Certainly, the more layers we break down between our definitions of place and landscape, the more layers we can reveal – but I don’t think it is an element that should be completely eliminated.
2- I remember a moment from long ago – childhood – that has stuck with me. Growing up in Wyoming, much of my time was spent outside, but because it became such a familiar environment, I wasn’t usually picking up on the intricacies of the landscape. During a camping trip one summer, I remember feeling exhausted, laying on the ground and looking up at the night sky. The sky was so jet black and the stars were like crystals. It was something I had seen every day, but being away from town, and I think also being tired, I was able to filter out all of the other information – and just soak in the expanse of the sky. Quite a phenomenal experience…
BENNET:
1) I think mostly – as Bennet says, we should be challenging normal social constructs. If we start to attribute what we normally see as dull matter as lively, or vibrant, we can start to connect new possibilities, or even identify early problems. (paraphrasing) ” what if we saw trash as a pile of lively and potentially dangerous matter”! This can be a complicated way of thinking – as stated above – where do we define the boundaries in this thinking? I suppose it is better to push these boundaries to an uncomfortable point first and then scale back to what is definable, and tangible.
2) I think, most importantly – the responsibility lies in cross disciplinary action. A designers viewpoint is still one sided and biased – by collaborating, more knowledge and therefore, momentum is gained. Our view of what vibrant matter is (i.e trash/rubbish) may or may not coincide with that of an engineer or a scientist. That potential overlap in theory is where the most powerful dialogue can begin.
Vibrant Matter
1- As a designer, more specifically as an architect, we can reveal vibrant matter in the landscape, whereas conventionally we hide these “things”. We put fences around trash areas or we create buildings out of materials that do not rust to reveal the outdoor elements well. We hide the vibrant matter and try to make it seem dull and unchanging. The trend tends to be to design a clear boundary between human, dull matter, and vibrant matter. Perhaps a better design answer is to have blurred boundaries between the humans and both types of matter. Humans should live with the vibrant matter in which they create and understand the implications of the matter’s existence. Hiding what is really there does not paint a true picture of how the world truly is.
2- I think it is idealistic to think designers can skip straight to the policy makers to create a change in the way we operate or think. Designers need to start by addressing the general public about issues, like consumerism so people begin question their perceptions on life. Infiltrating the opinions of the public will then affect policies created by the policy makers.
Jean-Francois Lyotard // Scapeland
1) For me, a feeling of place is captured in small moments, or strokes, that leave a larger impression upon leaving. These small moments can incorporate the landscape, yet usually it is only in snippets, out a window, on a walk, zipping by in the passenger seat of a car. The moments that make up the feeling of place are driven and drawn from landscape but it is difficult to articulate or perceive of the landscape in its entirety. Feeling of place, to me, is an impression made up of many colliding forces where as landscape “leaves the mind desolate,” cleaning the slate or rather, seeing the foundation, barren.
2) While at architecture school I discovered a new state of mind while running on an indoor track. I personally don’t enjoy running, but I do look forward to the half an hour of looping mindlessly without consideration of self or surroundings. By removing most external stimuli, the rote movement allows for predictability which lowers my defenses, allowing for a strange sense tranquility found in something rather artificial.
Jane Bennett // Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things
1) As designers, I think the boundaries between “vibrant” and “dull” matter are placed by the creator. Not much consideration is given to the life that goes into what we made, especially not to all of the “dull” matter that finds a place to hide within the larger shell. Objects that we have are mostly concealed to give a sense of simple lines and order. This discrepancy between seeing and designing space as voids and designing space for solely dull matter is not often addressed because it is simply not considered and left to the user.
2) As designers, perhaps we could make it a habit to more thoughtfully consider our buildings as organisms, a vital life force requiring clever methods of acquiring, consuming, and disposing of energy, water, and waste. By treating and designing systems that treat “dull matter” as objects with potential and capacity for great and terrible things, we, as designers, can use the tools we learn to act and better communicate with policy makers.
Scapeland:
1.) Recalling places brings memories and emotions, things that alter and changed the true content and perceptions of the original experience. For me, experiencing landscapes is often biased and betrayed by ones past feelings and memories. Too often our past experiences alter how we perceive new content and information. To fully absorb and experience a landscape, one must abandon feeling.
2.) When I think of landscapes and recall their presence, I see broad visualizations of mountains, green meadows, oceans, or plains, all of which are romanticized versions of the original place. I think of these places as timeless and abstracted out of their original context, separated and alone.
Vibrant Matter:
1.) To me, as a designer, I see a tremendous amount of choice and responsibility in where boundaries between “vibrant” and “dull” material are placed. I feel as though many of these barriers are commonplace, taught in design school as the default. Support space vs. service and front stage/backstage are all boundaries between “vibrant” and “dull” materials.
2.) As a designer, it is difficult to engage with policy makers directly. Architecture is a service provided for a client and to promote an ideal is difficult if the views of the designer do not align with the client. However, it is not impossibly. Policy takes time, and requires the acceptance of responsibility of designers and clients to bring attention to policy makers.
Scapeland- Lyotard
1. A feeling of place indicates that one is familiar with the location, and therefore it too simple to attach emotions felt from other occasions to the place. According to this article “your opinion counts as nothing” towards the landscape, which implies that a landscape should be viewed as a composition with texture, rather than a scene filled with objects and plants that speak to emotional ties.
2. It reminds me of a misty fall morning in Oregon, while riding my bike to school. I notice the silence, the moisture in the air, and I wonder how it can be so quiet. As I look into the trees I am reminded that the world has not stopped, and I find comfort in the leaves and branches swinging in the wind. I appreciate the nature in front of me, and the birds whistling in the air.
Vibrant Matter- Bennett
1. As architects it is important to analyze our design holistically. We should consider the interdependence of the material we suggest for a project and the ecological cycles in nature that it affects. It is a difficult judgment to draw a distinct boundary for what is ecologically sensible. However, an acceptable boundary may only be discovered if the animate matter and inanimate matter is valued in such a way that we propose to improve or maintain its originating habitat, or place where it existence.
2. Designers must suggest the use of certain matter over other matter. To advocate groups and companies who supply products that align with “greener forms of human culture,” will help accumulate support for those products and result in a more efficient infrastructure for the development of those products. As the use of this greener matter becomes more prevalent, policy makers should engage in a dialogue concerning ecological sensibility.
1.
I agree with Amy in that my perception of place is what I commonly mistake for a landscape. I remember Things about places but I need to step back from those images to remind myself of the landscape. I also like what Kelly said that once you mark something with a title it looses the capability of being a landscape. This discussion has made me re-think what I think of a landscape, but I can never shake the fact that when someone asks me what is a landscape the first thing that flows through my mind are countless scenic, remote, natural places.
2. I think of a trip I took to Mahleur National Wildlife Refuge for my studio project with Jenny Young. I was not excited to go, but once there I was taken back by the power of the landscape (yes I feel comfortable saying landscape) Over time, sitting on coyote butte overlooking hundreds of miles of high plain desert I found my mind in a calm relaxed state, and that all my studio mates had left without my knowing… pretty awesome!
The idea of permeable boundaries sounds nice to me. i think when there are definitive boundaries it limits our existence. When we try to consider ourselves seperated from other animate matter for example, there is confusion to what our place is. There should be ways to cross these boundaries at times.
2. I don’t believe there is a way to have meaningful discussion with policy makers. We should be formulating these conversations amongst ourselves and formulating responses. In turn giving these responses and information back to the people circumventing policy makers.
Scapeland
(1) Feeling of place can be influenced by matters such as a previous visit, external factors, who you are experiencing it with, what you already know about it, etc. It is suggested that going into these things without any preconceived notions can be helpful in many ways. I would agree with thus, however it it sometimes difficult to remove oneself from these ideas especially if it has had a large impact on us in the past.
(2) For me, the first thing that comes to mind is pure thought. Some people say that they have their best ideas or do their best thinking while in the shower. I especially find clarity as I am in limbo about to fall asleep. As my mind is shutting off for the day, my stresses and thoughts begin to wind down and no longer cloud my thought processes. Of course my “lightbulb moments” would escape me in the morning. When I was younger, my solution to this problem was to keep a note pad that lit up beside my pillow. I would jot notes down and revisit the in the morning. The term “sleep on it” has always been a successful mantra for me.
Vibrant Matter
(1)The boundaries that we deal with are often defined by place, setting, time, people etc. The second layer of boundaries, such as “vibrant matter” can come more into play when dealing with aesthetics. What are the spaces that are the focus vs. support, light vs dark, new vs old….You can fill in the rest….There are many variations for all of these boundaries that have black, a white, and an most often a gray. It would be nice to be more aware of various types of matter and bring them to the surface for us to reflect upon and make decisions about.
(2)It’s true that we become more aware and appreciative of things once we know that they are rare, unusual, unique, or fleeting. For example, when we know that a resource is depleting we are focused on preserving it, it become more difficult to acquire, and its price often inflates. I really have no understanding of how we as designers and architects can strive to have an impact on the general public discussion, political movements, and ultimately policy maker’s decisions. I hope to learn more about this when working for a design firm and dealing with social and economic issues.
1. It’s been said several times that designers are the ones that decide what’s dull and what’s bright and what’s in between. When there is matter we don’t want to acknowledge, design lets us hide it. Problem ignored, on every scale–personal (junk drawers), urban (homeless shelters), regional (landfills), global (“international resources” like oceans and third world countries). We place the boundaries around what makes us happy, it’s probably human nature. We want to be in control. But that’s where we miss out–I think we would be MOST happy including and addressing the types of matter we strip of it’s meaningfulness when we hit age I don’t know, 7 or 8, because we would at least be closer to being fully accepting of what we do and how we live–which seems like the only point of departure for real change.
2. I’m not sure how designers could directly affect policymakers because these people are usually under pressure to find the best possible solution amidst stakeholders with different agendas. It would seem then that it’s the stakeholders/anybody that should be engaged. Engaging everybody in a truly meaningful way–something that allows individual experience and then choice–would be incredibly empowering and might then apply directed pressure.
1- To reasonably answer this question, its necessary to identify the supposed definition of “ feeling of Place” and “ perception of landscape”. Supposing I would define the first as the existing feeling in that geographic point including all the man made changes. I would define “perception of landscape” as the feeling of that geographic point with out or bare from the man made changes.
This two definitions shows how I think “ feeling of Place” would hinder the “ perception of landscape”.
2- This type of feelings are usually long lasting and deep experiences.
One more resent example was a moment of realization of the connection of an event with an intense “series of unfortunate events”. That posed the mind and only “self was left”. A breeze and sun shine through the leaves were then gradually felt from inside.
1- unfortunately we as designers don’t define these boundaries or respect the most obvious boundaries . If we did we did not have time to rap up a project in a term. OR be able to make a leaving by designing the way architects do today. We would definitely not be able to rapidly propose and popularize products and methods to be widely used in the build environment.
2- Dealing with policy makers is difficult since there system of thought works with the previous or much older main Art or philosophical movement. So it seems that using the old facts (?) to convey the new findings is a good way to engage in a meaningful conversation with policy makers. Any of the 2 or 3 compartments stated has the potential to do so.