Thesis submitted for review May 18, 2012 In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Architecture School of Architecture and Interior Design College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning University of Cincinnati

Committee: Aarati Kanekar Michael McInturf Vincent Sansalone

MATERIAL PERCEPTION:

translating experience through Idea and representation Travis Hope _II

ABSTRACTThe understanding of space has become increas- This work is an exploration in the inherent rela- Through the abstraction of idea and represen- ingly abstracted through signification and catego- tionship between the individual and space through tation, this exploration seeks to materialize a rization, distancing experience from perception. the everyday experience of life. By deliberately process for perceiving space. It is an apparatus for Through the diminished response to percep- using abstractions through the disassembly of observing the nature of the environment. It is an tion, the present becomes constructed through association and connotation it explores a way of exploration in seeking the literal. abstractions derived from past experience. The analyzing perception and materializing the experi- projected experience this generates distances ence of space. Structured within Mexico City, the connection between the individual and the which exhibits the daily inhabitation of space in environment. a physical and clearly present manner, it analyzes the visual works and process of Francis Als as a framework for synthesizing perceptual experience. C

copyright 2012 travis hope III encouraged +questionedmealongtheway I aminadifferent placethatwhenIstarted and forthatIamextremely grateful those whohavementored, loved, TO

_IV ALLOWING PEOPLE TO PERCEIVE THEIR PER- CEPTIONS – MAKING THEM AWARE OF THEIR PERCEPTIONS. WE’VE DECIDED TO INVESTI- GATE THIS AND TO MAKE PEOPLE CONSCIOUS OF THEIR CONSCIOUS- NESS.... IF WE DEFINE ART AS PART OF THE REALM OF EXPERIENCE, WE CAN ASSUME THAT AF- TER A VIEWER LOOKS AT A PIECE, HE “LEAVES” WITH THE ART, BE- CAUSE THE “ART” HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED. WE ARE DEALING WITH THE LIMITS OF AN EXPE- RIENCE – NOT, FOR IN- STANCE, WITH THE LIM- ITS OF PAINTING. WE HAVE CHOSEN THAT EX- PERIENCE OUT OF THE REALM OF EXPERIENCE TO BE DEFINED AS “ART” BECAUSE HAVING THIS LABEL IT IS GIVEN SPE- CIAL ATTENTION. PER- HAPS THIS IS ALL “ART” MEANS – THIS FRAME OF MIND. THE OBJECT OF ART MAY BE TO SEEK THE ELIMI- NATION OF THE NECESSI- TY OF IT. THE WORKS OF PRE- VIOUS ARTISTS HAVE COME FROM THEIR OWN EXPERIENCES OR IN- SIGHTS BUT HAVEN’T GIVEN THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF. THEY SET THEM- SELVES UP AS A SORT OF INTERPRETER FOR THE LAYMAN.... OUR INTER- EST IS IN A FORM WHERE YOU REALIZE THAT THE MEDIA ARE JUST PER- CEPTION. THE EXPERIENCE IS THE robert irwin seeing is forgetting “THING,”the name of the thing one seesEXPERIENCING IS THE “OBJECT.” ALL ART IS EXPERIENCE, YET ALL EXPERIENCE IS NOT ART. THE ART- IST CHOOSES FROM EX- PERIENCE THAT WHICH HE DEFINES OUT AS ART, POSSIBLY BECAUSE IT HAS NOT YET BEEN EX- PERIENCED ENOUGH, OR BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE EXPERIENCED MORE. ALL ART-WORLD DIS- TINCTIONS ARE MEAN- INGLESS. SEEING IS FORGETTING THE NAME OF THE THING ONE SEES 72v 94 IN PROCESS THE WORKISNEVERFINISHED 72 ABSTRACTS 4 PRINTEDDOCUMENTS 9 CRITIQUES

VIII 001/ CONTENTS

ABSTRACT _II METHOD ONE 002 ACTION WITHOUT INTENT LOS PASEOS 006 DISCOVERING THE KNOWN EXTRAÑO 012 BACKGROUND ALŸS 018 TRANSLATING EXPERIENCE MEANING & REPRESENTATION 020 OUTCOME TWO 033 TRANSFORMATION MEMORY 035 CONTEXT TEXTURE 040 TIME REHEARSALS 048 TEXT NOTES 059 IMAGES NOTES 060 BIBLIOGRAPHY WORKS REFERENCED 061 ONE section 1_ method 002 SECTION 1

Dwelling is the basic character of Being in keeping When we build, we do so to facilitate human We design and order space to accommodate Section one explores this way of thinking about with which mortals exist. existence. We cultivate what naturally grows and human experience, but to do so we must fully experience and space. It explores the ideas, construct that which does not. We define loca- understand the nature of human experience. We processes, and work of those who attempt to The relationship between man and space is none tions by ordering the space which occupies them. must question what it is to experience a place. understand the human experience within the other than dwelling… We must question how we perceive a space and environment at its most fundamental level. It We segment and join spaces, creating rooms, the way in which we come to understand place. explores the work of those who design space for The nature of building is letting dwell. Only if we buildings, and cities to facilitate human experience. We must question how we sense the environ- human experience. It analyzes the experience of are capable of dwelling, only then can we build.2 We inhabit and think within space, and delineate ment, how we interpret our sensory input, and we being within a place and a way of thinking about it to create and allow for the understanding of must question its translation into how we think building which allows being. place. about place in a complete, fluid, and experiential Martin Heidegger way. To question this, acknowledges it, and when The built environment allows for human experi- kept in consideration leads to building for the sake ence. Architecture allows for a deeper connec- of dwelling. tion to that experience. 003 LE FLÂNEUR` 1800’s walk asexperience à unepassante gown; the flouncesofher In herpoisedhand, raising, withdignity ty, Awomanpassed, withmajes- mourning, Tall, slender, indeep traffic ofthetown, Amid thedeafening float[ing] freely inthepresent tense reading thepeopleandobjectsofcity a walker, stroller, idler that kills. cinates, thepleasure The softnessthatfas- storm, sky where brooded From hereyes,ashen as amadmanthrills, And Idrank,trembling statue's form. Graceful, noble,witha 4 till eternity? Shall Ineverseeyou from yourswiftglance; I amsuddenlyreborn -O lovelyfugitive, A flash.thennight!- walter benjamin might be! and youknewthis We mighthaveloved, lives; the othergoesor Neither knowswhere chance! Too late!never, per Somewhere, faroff! 5 -

004 throwing water richard long 2007

005 006 A WALK IS A SIMPLE WAY TO PASS AND ORDER TIME1 RICHARD LONG

LOS PASEOS ACTION WITHOUT INTENT

Walking is a simple act. If the goal of walking is to passes, a place remains. A walk moves through Walking through Dartmoor, Long experiences get from one point to another, the goal of wan- life. It is physical, but afterwards invisible.”2 Man’s Dartmoor Time. Dartmoor does not experi- dering is simply to wander, to experience the act experience occupies the pause amidst the change. ence the pace and time of Richard Long. The and the environment where it takes place. The The moving of earth and weathering of stone landscape defines the environment, and man walks of Richard Long lie in the realm of wander- occur in a time not experienced by the human simply chooses to engage or not. This exists ing, and his art exists largely as that experience. scale and senses. within a natural order, not generated by man but Defined by walking, it is action as experience as from something other. In the environment made art, which Long often translates through a physical WALKING THROUGH DARTMOOR “PASS- by man, in the city, time passes but the place is intervention within the landscape. The natural ING A PILE OF STONES [I] PLACED EX- not static. The pace of the city is inherently that 3 landscape Long engages is a slowly evolving place ACTLY SIXTEEN YEARS AGO” of mankind, not of one man, but of the collective. where human presence often occupies the space RICHARD LONG Man’s walk through the city alters his own experi- between change, experiencing transition. “Time ence, but also that of everyone around him. It is PA

the collective walking, the actions of the people, tersecting writings compose a manifold story that which define the environment of the city. These has neither author nor spectator, shaped out of actions are constant and ubiquitous, they are fragments of trajectories and alterations of spaces: normal, and therefore become subconscious and in relation to representations, it remains daily background. In ‘The Practice of Everyday Life,’ Mi- and indefinitely other. Escaping the imaginary chael de Certeau describes the unnoticed nature totalizations produced by the eye, the everyday of the everyday actions which define the city. has a certain strangeness that does not surface, or whose surface is only its upper limit, outlining itself “The ordinary practitioners of the city live “down against the visible.”4 below,” below the thresholds at which visibility begins. They walk – an elementary form of this It is the accumulation of these actions, defining experience of the city; they are walkers, Wander- the nature of the city, which are hidden by their smänner, whose bodies follow the thicks and thins normality. The mundane nature of everyday life of an urban “text” they write without being able allows these actions to drift into the background. to read it. These practitioners make use of spaces It is the actions of the collective, executed unbe- that cannot be seen... It is as though the practices knownst by the actors, which write the story of organizing a bustling city were characterized by the city. As Long’s walks read the landscape, the their blindness. The networks of these moving, in- work of Francis Alÿs uses walking as a means of 007 EVEN IF I WERE A ‘COL- LECTOR,’ I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO DO IT IN A WAY THAT HAS TO DO WITH WITHDRAWING THINGS RATHER THAN ACCUMULATING OR ADD- ING THINGS... I WOULD RATHER BE TRANSLATING THINGS INSTEAD OF PRO- DUCING THINGS. 6FRANCIS ALŸS 008 “Mexico Cityforces you toconstantly respond As aBelgian, Alÿs’ withinMexico initialexperience PA City wasinherently foreign, anoutside generating of thecitywithoutinfluenceitshistory, cul specifically wandering, which Alÿs isable toread simply aresponsetotheporous, layered, intense perspective allowing himtosee theenvironmentperspective hisenvironment,to solely experience placing tent fromtheactofwalking, Alÿs positionshimself areblind to.the actionsothers Byremoving in- reading thecity. Itisthroughwalking, ormore the faceofthisinacceptable urbanentity. That presence atthetime, in torepositionyourself to itsreality, itrequiresyou toresituateyour ture, andbackground. Muchof Alÿs’ is work early urbanity ofthecity. himself outside, to interpret the story ofthecity.himself outside, thestory tointerpret - Alÿs’ isacollectingofandresponseto work can see surveying theZócaloby cleaningthegaps can seesurveying series ofworks.”series apersonality,day feel theneedtoconstruct an example, there is this man in his forties whoyouexample, thereisthismaninhisforties wire bentintoahookatoneendandcircleas who often provide the inspiration forwho oftenprovide whatIdo, theinspiration the actionsofthosedefiningcity. Itexplores the pretext – at once cruel andpoetic–for a the pretext–atoncecruel the urbanchessboard. Itisthiskindofpeople identity, tofindtheirplaceintheurban chaos. For inventing themselves –thepeoplewhoone is exactly whatIseehappeninginmy neighbor justify hisbeingthere. That theroleheplays on handle attheother. It’s hisway tobethere to between theflagstonesofpavement witha day,hood every withallthesepeoplewhokeep 5 - of the city has become framed withinthe social,of thecityhasbecomeframed of hispassing, callingattentiontotheparticular ofthecityandleaves of theexperience traces often imposesprocesseswhichalterthemove- developed the questioning of the experience developed thequestioningofexperience environment, thepassingoftime reconfiguring qualities ofthestreet. theplaceasa Itmarks a strollthataffects orcollectsremnantsofthecity, within theurbanexperience. As Alÿs’ has work physical presenceoftheenvironment. Alÿs’ work, oftheplace,political, particularities andcultural throughout thecityandquestioningperception withthebuiltthe way inwhichtheoneinteracts much ofwhichinvolves a passing throughthecity, means ofinitiatingawareness, andpullsforward ment throughtheplace. Itslows theprogression but it remains inherently tied to the material and but itremainsinherently tiedtothematerial his experience,ofwandering, theexperience the consciousness. street. Itpullsthecommonplaceofeveryday experience ofperceivingtheenvironment ofthe experience actions intoquestionandtheubiquityofcity’s background environment totheforefront ofone’s

009 WALKING As longasIamwalking, “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , “ , I willnotremember I willnotrepeat I’m notchanging I’m notcrossing I’m notfacing I’m notmocking I’m notstealing I’m notclosing I’m notdrinking I’m nottalking I’m notbelieving I’m notasking I’m notadding I’m notcounting I’m nothiding I’m notpainting I’m notfalling I’m notknowing I’m notmaking I’m notlosing I’m notsmoking I’m notchoosing 7 francis Alÿs

010 richard long a line in japan / mount fuji 1979 012 TO BE LOST IS TO BE FULLY PRESENT1 REBECCA SOLNIT

EXTRAÑO DISCOVERING THE KNOWN

It is difficult to allow oneself to become lost, tive view of our environment and the everyday to know it more deeply and to know other things to allow the world to expand beyond one’s experience because we are constantly immersed increases as one tries to stuff peoples’ heads.”2 knowledge of it. To generate a sense of curiosity within it. Once a thing is understood, to disrupt about that which is commonplace and familiar, it within the hierarchy of knowledge and bring it The mind is curious of that which it cannot that which we think of as being inherent and un- into question often requires initiation from some- understand, and people go to great lengths to derstood, resists intuition. The understood rests thing external. Michel Foucault describes one’s understand what is not known, but that pursuit of within a mental framework, which is known to be intuition to react. understanding is reliant upon questioning, and the true, reinforced by assumptions, that fit and the question is often raised in response to some- assurance of time. The constant nature of the ev- “I believe that people react; the more one con- thing new or out of place. Without the ability eryday experience provides a veil of continuity in vinces them, the more they question things. The to perceive of something other, an opposing or which we are never able to fully pass beyond. We mind isn’t made of soft wax. It’s a reactive sub- contrasting condition, there is no context with are never able to get a purely external and objec- stance. And the desire to know [savoir] more, and which to question something, and it remains a Slowness. 4Milan Kundera proportional totheintensityof forgetting. thedegreetional totheintensityofmemory; ofspeedisdirectly two basicequations:thedegree ofslownessisdirectly propor of In existentialmathematics,that experiencetakestheform him intime. he weretodistancehimselffrom trying athingstilltoocloseto lived throughunconsciouslytospeeduphispace,as if starts person whowantstoforgetadisagreeable incidenthehasjust tion escapeshim.Automatically, heslowsdown.Meanwhile,a moment,hetriestorecallcertain something,buttherecollec- monplace situation:amaniswalkingdownthestreet. Ata between speedandforgetting.Considerthisutterlycom- There isasecret bondbetweenslownessandmemory, SLOWNESS -

013 EX subconscious basis of reality. To explore questions the presence of the place. Mexico City as an “[Curiosity] evokes ‘care’; it evokes the care one necessary to evoke the sense of curiosity. It is about the environment one exists within and the environment is foreign, and walking as an action is takes of what exists and what might exist; a through the rigor of filtering that the directed fo- experience that occurs there becomes difficult without intention. The process creates a setting sharpened sense of reality, but one that is never cus towards the experience of place is made clear. because there is nothing to react to. Because it is in which the presence of the street is brought immobilized before it; a readiness to find what ubiquitous and familiar the difficulty lies in reach- into focus through the lack of Alÿs’ connections to surrounds us strange and odd; a certain determi- Paralleling the filtering experience of Alÿs’ walks, ing an outside perspective from which to question. the place, activity, and the people. The lack of un- nation to throw off familiar ways of thought and James Turrell, Robert Irwin, and NASA scientist It is the process of removing oneself from the derstanding and connotation associated with the to look at the same things in a different way; a Edward Wortz placed themselves through a se- situation in order to better perceive the situation. objects and activities in the street shifts the focus passion for seizing what is happening now and ries of experiments in which they spent significant What Alÿs’ walks achieve, through the act of of the mind to rely directly on what the body what is disappearing; a lack of respect for the amounts of time isolated in an anechoic chamber, wandering, is to remove himself from the situation. senses to generate an understanding of the place. traditional hierarchies of what is important and completely void of light and sound. The filtering The walks remove intent from the action, and The environment is brought to the forefront of fundamental. “3 out of sensory input within the chamber altered slow the pace of the experience. The slowness the mind to be considered and questioned. It the way in which they perceived the environment of the act allows for the time to perceive what is through the process of removal, through the It is this curiosity of the everyday experience and upon leaving. “For a few hours after you came is happening and creates space to interpret that process of slowing the experience, which Alÿs is the exploration of the presence of the street out… you really did become more energy con- perception. able to grasp the complexities of the background which is awakened through the experience of scious… You picked up things which you normally and commonplace that define the environment. the walk. It is the walk for Alÿs that allows the blocked out.” 5 By eliminating sensory input for Alÿs’ experience is inherently tied to the process Michel Foucault describes this sense of curiosity in stripping of expectations from the experience to a period of time, the environment each experi- of removing associations and becoming lost in grasping the experience of the everyday. reach an increased sensory state of perception enced upon returning was new and overwhelming, 014 EX

and auditory and visual information which one using the process of sensory deprivation to make and commonplace into the foreground of one’s IN ORDER TO THINK NEW THOUGHTS OR traditionally filters out became apparent. a familiar environment foreign, Alÿs’ experience consciousness that one is able to engage the TO SAY NEW THINGS, WE HAVE TO BREAK of Mexico City is foreign. The foreign nature environment which surrounds him. Through the UP ALL OUR READY-MADE IDEAS AND “In our ordinary lives we move through the world of the place removes embedded meanings and slowness of the act, the removal of associations, SHUFFLE THE PIECES. AN ARTWORK CAN with a strong expectation-fit ration which we use associations allowing for an external and objective and the external and foreign view of the place, HELP US UNLEARN BY TAKING SOME- as much to block out information as to gather it reading of the place. The influence of the internal Alÿs is able to bring the overlooked nature of THING WE HAVE LEARNED AND UNDER- in—and for good reason, most of the time; we framework which filters sensory information the background into question. It is that process block out information which is not critical to our based on importance relating to one’s under- which allows the physicality of the street to STOOD, AND PUNCTURE IT, COMPROMISE activity. Otherwise we might well become immo- standing is significantly diminished. The social, become present, bringing out the subtleties that IT, COMPLICATE IT—MAKING A SOLUTION bilized. But after a while, you know, you do that political, and cultural meanings embedded within slip through the subconscious of the everyday INTO A PROBLEM AGAIN.7 repeatedly, day after day after day, and the world text, images, objects, and actions are eliminated experience. begins to take on a fairly uniform look. So that through translation as well as the lessened impact what the anechoic chamber was helping us to see they impart. This external view creates a certain was the extreme complexity and richness of our childlike naiveté, which allows for a neutral read- sense mechanism and how little of it we use most ing of one’s environment. of the time. We edit from it severely, in time to see only what we expect to see.“6 In the same way that Turrell, Irwin, and Wortz are It is through the process of bringing the familiar 015 C.D. Allow me to ask you first why you have chosen anonymity? lycee I used to see plaster busts of great men. And now at the or destroying reputations at will. Hence, too, the feeling among ought to set up a reserve, a “cultural park,” for delicate species of ONM.F. You know theAPRIL, story of the psychologists who went to make7, bottom of1980 the front pages of newspapers I see the photograph SINCEthe critics that they will not be heard YOUunless they shout louder and DON’Tscholars threatened by the rapacious inroads of mass information, a little film test in a village in darkest Africa. They then asked of some thinker or other. I don’t know whether things have pull a rabbit out of the hat each week. Hence, too, a pseudopo- while the rest of the space would be a huge market for shoddy the spectators to tell the story in their own words. Well, only one improved, from an aesthetic point of view. Economic rationality, liticization that masks, beneath the need to wage an “ideological products. Such a division does not seem to me to correspond to thing interested them in this story involving three characters: the certainly ... struggle” or to root out “dangerous thoughts,” a deep-seated reality. What’s more, it isn’t at all desirable. If useful differentia- movement of the light and shadow through the trees. In our so- I’m very moved by a letter that Kant wrote when he was already anxiety that one will not be heard or read. tions are to be brought into play, there must not be any such cieties, characters dominate our perceptions. Our attention tends very old: he was in a hurry, he says, against old age and declin- Hence, too, the fantastic phobia for power: anybody who writes division. INto be arrested AN by the activities of INTERVIEWfaces that come and go, emerge ing sight, and confused ideas, to finish BE one of his books- for the KNOWexerts a disturbing power upon which WHOone must try to place I AM, YOU and disappear. Why did I suggest that we use anonymity? Out of Leipzig Fair. I mention this to show that it isn’t of the slightest limitations, if not actually to put an end to it. Hence, too, the C.D. Let’s risk a few concrete propositions. If everything is going nostalgia for a time when, being quite unknown, what I said had importance. With or without publicity, with or without a fair, a declaration, repeated over and over, that everything nowadays badly, where do we make a start? some chance of being heard. With the potential reader, the surface book is something quite special. I shall never be convinced that is empty, desolate, uninteresting, unimportant: a declaration that M.F. But everything isn’t going badly. In any case, I believe we of contact was unrippled. The effects of the book might land in a book is bad because its author has been seen on television. obviously comes from those who, not doing anything themselves, shouldn’t confuse useful criticism of things with repetitive jeremi- unexpected places and form shapes that I had never thought of. But, of course, it isn’t good for that reason alone either. If I consider that there are too many others who are. ads against people. As for concrete propositions, they can’t just A name makes reading too easy. I shall propose a game: that of have chosen anonymity, it is not, therefore, to criticize this or make an appearance like gadgets, unless certain general principles TWEENthe “year without a name.” For a year, books CHRISTIAN would be published that individual, which I never do. It’s a way of addressing the WILLC.D. But don’t you think thatBE our period is really lackingMORE in great are accepted first. And theIN first of such- general principles should be without their authors’ names. The critics would have to cope with potential reader, the only individual here who is of interest to writers and in minds capable of dealing with its problems? that the right to knowledge [droit au savoir] must not be reserved a mass of entirely anonymous books. But, me, more directly: “Since you don’t know who I am, you will M.F. No, I don’t subscribe to the notion of a decadence, of a lack to a particular age group or to certain categories of people, but that be more inclined to find out why I say what you read; just allow of writers, of the sterility of thought, of a gloomy future lacking one must be able to exercise it constantly and in many different *Between 1979 and 1984 the newspaper Le Monde published yourself to say, quite simply, it’s true, it’s false. I like it or I don’t in prospects. ways. a weekly series of interviews with leading European intel- like it. Period.” On the contrary, I believe that there is a plethora. What we are lectuals. On April 6-7, 1980, an inte view between Christian suffering from is not a void but inadequate means for thinking C.D. Isn’t this desire for knowledge [envie de savoir] somewhat DELACAMPAGNEDelacampagne and Michel Foucault was published in which the C.D. But doesn’t the public expect theAND critic to provide him with CLINEDTOabout everything that is happening. There is an overabundance FINDambiguous? What, in fact, areOUT people to do with all that knowledge latter opted for the mask of anonymity-the philosopher declined precise assessments as to the value of a work? of things to be known: fundamental, terrible, wonderful, funny, that they are going to acquire? What use will it be to them? to reveal his name-in order to demystify the power society M.F. I don’t know whether the public does or does not expect the insignificant, andcrucial at the same time. And there is an M.F. One of the main functions of teaching was that the training ascribes to the “name” of the intellectual. Foucault set out to critic to judge works or authors. Judges were there, I think, before enormous curiosity, a need, a desire to know. People are always of the individual should be accompanIed by his being situated in liberate the consumer of culture from a critical discourse that is he was able to say what he wanted. It seems that Courbet had a complaining that the mass media stuff one’s head with people. society. We should now see teaching in such a way that it allows overdetermined by the characters that dominate our perceptions. friend who used to wake up in the night yelling: “I want to judge, There is a certain misanthropy in this idea. On the contrary, I the individual to change at will, which is possible only on condi- MICHELThis interview was reprinted in Entretiens FOUCAULTI want to judge.” It’s amazing how people like judging.THE Judgment WHYbelieve that people react; theI more oneSAY convinces them, the morWHATe tion that teaching is a possibility alwaysYOU being offered. avec Le Monde, vol. I: Philosophies (Paris: Decouverte, 1984), is being passed everywhere, all the time. Perhaps it’s one of the they question things. The mind isn’t made of soft wax. It’s a pp. 21-50. The translation, by Alan Sheridan, has been amended. simplest things mankind has been given to do. And you know reactive substance. And the desire to know [savoir] more, and to C.D. Are you in fact for a society of scholars [societe savanteJ? now that I come to think of it, it’s possible they would have very well that the last man, when radiation has finally reduced know it more deeply and to know other things increases as one M.F. I’m saying that people must be constantly able to plug into nothing to do: all the authors would wait until the following year his last enemy to ashes, will sit down behind some rickety table tries to stuff peoples’ heads. culture and in as many ways as possible. There ought not to be, on before publishing their books ... and begin the trial of the individual responsible. I can’t help but the one hand, this education to which one is subjected and, on the dream about a kind of criticism that would try not to judge but If you accept that, and if you add that there’s a whole host of other, this information one is fed. LATTERC.D. Do you think intellectuals today talk too much?OPTED That they to bring an oeuvre, a book, FOR a sentence, an idea to life; it would READ;people being trained in the universities JUST and elsewhere who could ALLOW encumber us with their discourses at every occasion, and more light fires, watch the grass grow, listen to the wind, and catch act as intermediaries between this mass of things and this thirst C.D. What becomes of the eternal questions of philosophy in this often than not independent of any occasion? the sea foam in the breeze and scatter it. It would multiply not for knowledge, you will soon come to the conclusion that student learned society [societe savanteJ? ... Do we still need them, these M.F. The word intellectual strikes me as odd. Personally, I’ve judgments but signs of existence; it would summon them, drag unemployment is the most absurd thing imaginable. The problem unanswerable questions, these silences before the unknowable? nevermet any intellectuals. I’ve met people who write novels, them from their sleep. Perhaps it would invent them sometimes- is to multiply the channels, the bridges, the means of information, M.F. What is philosophy if not a way of reflecting, not so much others whotreat the sick; people who work in economics and all the better. All the better. Criticism that hands down sentences the radio and television networks, the newspapers. Curiosity is on what is true and what is false, as on our relationship to truth? THEothers who compose electronicMASK music. I’ve met people who OFsends me to sleep; I’d like a criticism of scintillating leaps of the YOURSELFa vice that has been stigmatized in turn by Christianity, by phi - TOPeople sometimes complainSAY, that there is no dominant philosophy teach, people who paint, and people of whom I have never really imagination. It would not be sovereign or dressed in red. It would losophy, and even by a certain conception of science. Curiosity is in France. So much the better for that! There is no sovereign understood what they do. But intellectuals? Never. bear the lightning of possible storms. seen as futility. However, I like the word; it suggests something philosophy, it’s true, but a philosophy or rather philosophy in activ- On the other hand, I’ve met a lot of people who talk about quite different to me. It evokes “care”; it evokes the care one ity. The movement by which, not without effort and uncertainty, “the intellectual.” And, listening to them, I’ve got some idea C.D. SO there are so many things to tell people about, so much takes of what exists and what might exist; a sharpened sense of dreams and illusions, one detaches oneself from what is accepted of what such ananimal could be. It’s not difficult-he’s quite inter esting work being done, that the mass media ought to talk reality, but one that is never immobilized before it; a readiness to as true and seeks other rulesthat is philosophy. The displacement personified. He’s guiltyof pretty well everything: of speaking out about philosophy all the time ... find what surrounds us strange and odd; a certain determination and transformation of frameworks of thinking, the changing ANONYMITYand of keeping silent, ofdoing nothing and of getting involved M.F. It’sIN true that there ORDER is a traditional discomfort between the QUITEto throw off familiar ways of thought SIMPLY, and to look at the same of received values andIT’S all the work that has been done to think in everything .... In short, theintellectual is raw material for a “critics” and those who write books. The first feel misunderstood, things in a different way; a passion for seizing what is happening otherwise, to do something else, to become other than what one verdict, a sentence, a condemnation,an exclusion ... I don’t find and the second think the first are trying to bring them to heel. But now and what is disappearing; a lack of respect for the traditional is-that, too, is philosophy. From this point of view, the last thirty that intellectuals talk too much, since for me they don’t exist. But that’s the game. It seems to me that today the situation is rather hierarchies of what is important and fundamental. I dream of a years or so have been a period of intense philosophical activity. I do find that more and more is being said about intellectuals, and special. We have institutions administering shortages, whereas new age of curiosity. We have the technical means; the desire is The interaction between analysis, research, “learned” or “theoreti- I don’t find it very reassuring. we are in a situation of superabundance.Everybody has noticed there; there is an infinity of things to know; the people capable of cal” criticism, and changes in behavior, in people’s real conduct, TO DEMYSTIFYthe overexcitement that oftenTHE accompanies the publication (or TRUE,doing such work exist. So what is ourIT’S problem? Too little: FALSE.their way of being, their relation to themselves I and toLIKE others has I have an unfortunate habit. When people speak about this or that, reprinting) of some work that may in fact be quite interesting. But channels of communication that are too narrow, almost monopo- been constant I try to imagine what the result would be if translated into reality. it is never presented as being anything less than the “subversion listic, inadequate. We mustn’t adopt a protectionist attitude, to When they “criticize” someone, when they “denounce” his ideas, of all the codes,” the “antithesis of contemporary culture,” the stop “bad” information from invading and stifling the “good.” and considerable. I was saying just now that philosophy was a way when they “condemn” what he writes, I imagine them in the ideal “radical questioning of all our ways of thinking.” One would Rather, we must increase the possibility for movement backward of reflecting on our relationship to truth. It should also be added situation in which they would have complete power over him. be justified in thinking that its a)1thor must be some unknown and forward. This would not lead, as people often fear, to unifor- that it is a way of interrogating ourselves: If this is the relationship I take the words they use-demolish, destroy, reduce to silence, fellow livingon the fringes of society. mity and leveling-down, but, on the contrary, to the simultaneous that we have with truth, how must we behave? I believe that a POWERbury-and see what the effect would be if they SOCIETYwere taken literally. On the other hand, others must be banishedAS into total -oblivion, ITexistence andOR differentiation of theseI variousDON’T networks. considerable andLIKE varied amount of work has been IT. done and is sti ll And I catch a glimpse of the radiant city in which the intellectual from which they must never be allowed to reemerge; they were being done that alters both our relation to truth and our way of would be in prison or, if he were also a theoretician, hanged, of only the froth of “mere fashion,” a mere product of the cultural C.D. I imagine that, at this level, the mass media and the univer- behaving. And this has taken place in a complex situation, between course. We don’t, it’s true, live under a regime in which intel- institution, and so forth. A superficial, very Parisian phenomenon, sities, instead of continuing to oppose one another, might play a whole series of investigations and a whole set of social move- lectuals are sent to the ricefields. But have you heard of a certain it will be said. I see it, rather, as the effect of a deep-seated complementary roles. ments. It’s the very life of philosophy. It is understandable that Toni NBgri?l Isn’t he in prison simply for being an intellectual? anxiety. The feeling of “no room,” “him or me,” “it’s my turn M.F. You remember Sylvain Levi’s wonderful saying: when you some people should weep over the present void and hanker instead, now.” We have to walk in line because of the extreme narrowness have one listener, it’s teaching; when you have two, it’s popular- in the world of ideas, after a little monarchy. But those who, for CRIBESC.D. SO what has led you to hide behind anonymity? TO Is it the THEof the place where one can listenÌNAMEÎ and make oneself heard. Hence PERIOD.ization. Books, universities, learned journals are also information once in their lives, have found a new tone, a new way of looking, a way in which philosophers, nowadays, exploit the publicity a sort of anxiety that finds expression in innumerable symptoms, media. One should new way of doing, those people, I believe, will never feel the need surrounding some funny, some less so. Hence, too, on the part of those who refrain from calling every channel of information to which one to lament that the world is error, that history is filled withpeople of their names? write, a sense of impotence when confronted by the mass media, cannot or does not wish to gain access a “mass medium.” The no consequence, and that it is time for others to keep quiet so that M.F. That doesn’t shock me in the least. In the corridors of myoid which they criticize for running the world of books and creating problem is to know how to exploit the differences, whether we at last the sound of their disapproval may be heard ... OF THE INTELLECTUAL. MICHEL FOUCAULT 016 s

If there is a discrepancy between certainty and truth, 9 the certainty of the discrepancy sabotages its truth. eric duyckaert 017 ALŸS

Francis Alÿs was born in Antwerp in 1959, and initially educated in architectural history at the Institute of Architecture in Tournai (1978–83) fol- lowed by engineering at the Istituto di Architettu- ra in Venice (1983–86). Alÿs relocated to Mexico as a foreign aid volunteer after a 1985 earthquake, where he began to engage in visual and perfor- mance art in response to the urban environment of Mexico City. 018 1985

On September 19, 1985, Mexico City was hit by The majority of the damage was concentrated following, Alÿs’ initial experience of Mexico City quake. His foreign perspective allowed him to an 8.0 magnitude earthquake which caused the in four boroughs surrounding the Zócalo and took in not only the immensity and pace of the experience the physicality of the place without 2 death of over 10,000 people and significant dam- the historic center of the city. Alÿs’ experience city, but an intensified version of the chaotic and the connection to the impact it created, exposing age to the infrastructure of the city and its sur- within the torn city streets shaped his understand- energized nature of the place. Removed from the him to the porous, textured, and layered nature of 3 rounding areas. 412 buildings collapsed and 3,124 ing of the place eventually becoming the location connection to the economy, culture, and people the disrupted city streets. underwent serious damage costing between three of his studio and the area in which much of his of the place, Alÿs’ experience was distanced from and four billion US dollars to repair.1 work would take place. Due to the destruction the destruction and sorrow that occupied the of the earthquake and the continual relief efforts consciousness of those affected by the earth- 019 020

MEANING & REPRESENTATION TRANSLATING EXPERIENCE

Translation plays a critical role within Alÿs’ work life allowing Alÿs to insert his narrative within the explore universal ideas. His work is contained as it shifts from an internal experience to an context of the street. However, for the perfor- within the chaos of the ubiquitous side streets external response. The qualities Alÿs pulls from mances to speak to anyone beyond those on directly surrounding his studio and the Zócalo, the experience of the walk are what create the the street in Mexico City at the precise time and the vast public square which acts as the iconic framework for a series of performances, which place in which Alÿs performing the act, they must and energized heart of Mexico City, yet he is reintroduce those qualities in an altered manner be translated into another medium in order to in dialogue with an external global audience bringing them into focus. The performances communicate, and it is through the tangible rep- disconnected from the place. Alÿs work exists are a way of synthesizing the experience of the resentations and translations of the performances as an ongoing paradox in that it is defined by the street both internally for Alÿs as well as translating that Alÿs’ ideas enter a global conversation. perceptive experience of the streets exposing those ideas into something external of himself for the subtle unnoticed qualities of the place, yet it others to interact and respond to. They act as an Alÿs’ work is grounded directly within the par- must shift beyond the experience and place to outlet for the collected experiences of everyday ticular nature of the place, which he is using to communicate to others. Tod Williams and Billie Lo recuerdo (yo no tengo derecho a pronunciar ese verbo sagrado, primo Bernardo, tenía mucho de sueño elaborado con elementos an- reproducir sus palabras, irrecuperables ahora. Prefiero resumir con la ballena, gas, 1a caldera, Napoleón, Agustín vedia. En lugar de sólo un hombre en la tierra tuvo derecho y ese hombre ha muerto) teriores. Me dijeron que no se movía del catre, puestos los ojos en.la veracidad las muchas cosas que me dijo Ireneo. El estilo indirecto es quinientos, decía nueve. Cada palabra tenía un signo particular, una con una oscura pasionaria en la mano, viéndola como nadie la ha higuera del fondo o en una telaraña. En los atardeceres, permitía que remoto y débil; yo sé que sacrifico la eficacia de mi relato; que mis especie marca; las últimas muy complicadas... Yo traté explicarle que visto, aunque la mirara desde el crepúsculo del día hasta el de la lo sacaran a la ventana. Llevaba la soberbia hasta el punto de simular lectores se imaginen los entrecortados períodos que me abrumaron esa rapsodia de voces inconexas era precisamente lo contrario sistema noche, toda una vida entera. Lo recuerdo, la cara taciturna y aindiada que era benéfico el golpe que lo había fulminado... Dos veces lo vi esa noche. numeración. Le dije decir 365 tres centenas, seis decenas, cinco uni- y singularmente remota, detrás del cigarrillo. Recuerdo (creo) sus ma- atrás de la reja, que burdamente recalcaba su condición de eterno Ireneo empezó por enumerar, en latín y español, los casos de dades; análisis no existe en los “números” El Negro Timoteo o manta nos afiladas de trenzador. Recuerdo cerca de esas manos un mate, con prisionero: una, inmóvil, con los ojos cerrados; otra, inmóvil también, memoria prodigiosa registrados por la Naturalis historia: Ciro, rey de de carne. Funes no me entendió o no quiso entenderme. las armas de la Banda Oriental; recuerdo en la ventana de la casa una absorto en la contemplación de un oloroso gajo de santonina. los persas, que sabía llamar por su nombre a todos los soldados de Locke, siglo XVII, postuló (y reprobó) idioma imposible estera amarilla, con un vago paisaje lacustre. Recuerdo claramente No sin alguna vanagloria yo había iniciado en aquel tiempo el sus ejércitos; Mitrídates Eupator, que administraba la justicia en los en el que cada cosa individual, cada piedra, cada pájaro y cada su voz; la voz pausada, resentida y nasal del orillero antiguo, sin los estudio metódico del latin. Mi valija incluía el De viris illustribus 22 idiomas de su imperio; Simónides, inventor de la mnemotecnia; rama tuviera nombre propio; Funes proyectó alguna vez un idioma silbidos italianos de ahora. Más de tres veces no lo vi; la última, en de Lhomond, el Thesaurus de Quicherat, los comentarios de Julio Metrodoro, que profesaba el arte de repetir con fidelidad lo escuchado análogo, pero lo desechó por parecerle demasiado general, demasiado 1887... Me parece muy feliz el proyecto de que todos aquellos que César y un volumen impar de la Naturalis historia de Plinio, que una sola vez. Con evidente buena fe se maravilló de que tales casos ambiguo. En efecto, Funes no sólo recordaba cada hoja de cada árbol lo trataron escriban sobre él; mi testimonio será acaso el más breve y excedía (y sigue excediendo) mis módicas virtudes de latinista. Todo maravillaran. Me dijo que antes de esa tarde lluviosa en que lo volteó de cada monte, sino cada una de las veces que la había percibido sin duda el más pobre, pero no el menos imparcial del volumen que se propala en un pueblo chico; Ireneo, en su rancho de las orillas, no el azulejo, él había sido lo que son todos los cristianos: un ciego, o imaginado. Resolvió reducir cada una de sus jornadas pretéritas editarán ustedes. Mi deplorable condición de argentino me impedirá tardó en enterarse del arribo de esos libros anómalos. Me dirigió una un sordo, un abombado, un desmemoriado. (Traté de recordarle su a unos setenta mil recuerdos, que definiría luego por cifras. Lo incurrir en el ditirambo —género obligatorio en el Uruguay, cuando carta florida y ceremoniosa, en la que recordaba nuestro encuentro, percepción exacta del tiempo, su memoria de nombres propios; no me disuadieron dos consideraciones: la conciencia de que la tarea era el tema es un uruguayo. Literato, cajetilla, porteño: Funes no dijo desdichadamente fugaz, “del día siete de febrero del año ochenta y hizo caso.) Diecinueve años había vivido como quien sueña: miraba interminable, la conciencia de que era inútil. Pensó que en la hora esas injuriosas palabras, pero de un modo suficiente me consta que cuatro”, ponderaba los gloriosos servicios que don Gregorio Haedo, sin ver, oía sin oír, se olvidaba de todo, de casi todo. Al caer, perdió de la muerte no habría acabado aún de clasificar todos los recuerdos yo representaba para él esas desventuras. Pedro Leandro Ipuche mi tío, finado ese mismo año, “había prestado a las dos patrias en el conocimiento; cuando lo recobró, el presente era casi intolerable de la niñez. ha escrito que Funes era un precursor de los superhombres; “Un la valerosa jornada de Ituzaingó”, y me solicitaba el préstamo de de tan rico y tan nítido, y también las memorias más antiguas y más Los dos proyectos que he indicado (un vocabulario infinito Zarathustra cimarrón y vernáculo”; no lo discuto, pero no hay que cualquiera de los volúmenes, acompañado de un diccionario “para triviales. Poco después averiguó que estaba tullido. El hecho apenas para serie natural de los números, un inútil catálogo mental de olvidar que era también un compadrito de Fray Bentos, con ciertas la buena inteligencia del texto original, porque todavía ignoro el le interesó. Razonó (sintió) que la inmovilidad era un precio mínimo. todas las imágenes del recuerdo) son insensatos, pero revelan cierta incurables limitaciones. latín”. Prometía devolverlos en buen estado, casi inmediatamente. La Ahora su percepción y su memoria eran infalibles. balbuciente grandeza. Nos dejan vislumbrar o inferir el vertiginoso Mi primer recuerdo de Funes es muy perspicuo. Lo veo en un letra era perfecta, muy perfilada; la ortografía, del tipo que Andrés Nosotros, de un vistazo, percibimos tres copas en una mesa; mundo de Funes. Éste, no lo olvidemos, era casi incapaz de ideas atardecer de marzo o febrero del año ochenta y cuatro. Mi padre, ese Bello preconizó: i por y, j por g. Al principio, temí naturalmente una Funes, todos los vástagos y racimos y frutos que comprende una generales, platónicas. No sólo le costaba comprender que el símbolo año, me había llevado a veranear a Fray Bentos. Yo volvía con mi broma. Mis primos me aseguraron que no, que eran cosas de Ireneo. parra. Sabía las formas de las nubes australes del amanecer del treinta genérico perro abarcara tantos individuos dispares de diversos primo Bernardo Haedo de la estancia de San Francisco. Volvíamos No supe si atribuir a descaro, a ignorancia o a estupidez la idea de de abril de mil ochocientos ochenta y dos y podía compararlas en el tamaños y diversa forma; le molestaba que el perro de las tres y cantando, a caballo, y ésa no era la única circunstancia de mi que el arduo latín no requería más instrumento que un diccionario; recuerdo con las vetas de un libro en pasta española que sólo había catorce (visto de perfil) tuviera el mismo nombre que el perro de las felicidad. Después de un día bochornoso, una enorme tormenta color para desengañarlo con plenitud le mandé el Gradus ad Parnassum de mirado una vez y con las líneas de la espuma que un remo levantó en tres y cuarto (visto de frente). Su propia cara en el espejo, sus propias pizarra había escondido el cielo. La alentaba el viento del Sur, ya se Quicherat. y la obra de Plinio: el Río Negro la víspera de la acción del Quebracho. Esos recuerdos manos, lo sorprendían cada vez. Refiere Swift que el emperador enloquecían los árboles; yo tenía el temor (la esperanza) de que nosLANGUAGE El catorce de febrero me telegrafiaron de Buenos Aires queOF no eran simples;THE cada imagen visualLITERAL estaba ligada a sensaciones de Lilliput discernía el movimiento del minutero; Funes discernía sorprendiera en un descampado el agua elemental. Corrimos una volviera inmediatamente, porque mi padre no estaba “nada/ bien”. musculares, térmicas, etc. Podía reconstruir todos los sueños, todos continuamente los tranquilos avances de la corrupción, de las caries, FUNES THE MEMORIOUS especie de carrera con la tormenta. Entramos en un callejón que se Dios me perdone; el prestigio de ser el destinatario de un telegrama los entresueños. Dos o tres veces había reconstruido un día entero; de la fatiga. Notaba los progresos de la muerte, de la humedad. Era el ahondaba entre dos veredas altísimas de ladrillo. Había oscurecido urgente,JORGE el deseo LUIS de comunicar BORGES a todo Fray Bentos la contradicción no había dudado nunca, pero cada reconstrucción había requerido solitario y lúcido espectador de un mundo multiforme, instantáneo y de golpe; oí rápidos y casi secretos pasos en lo alto; alcé los ojos y entre la forma negativa de la noticia y el perentorio adverbio, la ten- un día entero. Me dijo: Más recuerdos tengo yo solo que los que casi intolerablemente preciso. Babilonia, Londres y Nueva York han .vi un muchacho que corría por la estrecha y rota vereda como por tación1942 de dramatizar mi dolor, fingiendo un viril estoicismo, tal vez habrán tenido todos los hombres desde que el mundo es mundo. Y abrumado con feroz esplendor la imaginación de los hombres; nadie, una estrecha y rota pared. Recuerdo la bombacha, las alpargatas, me distrajeron de toda posibilidad de dolor. Al hacer la valija, noté también: Mis sueños son como 1a vigilia de ustedes. Y también, en sus torres populosas o en sus avenidas urgentes, ha sentido el calor recuerdo el cigarrillo en el duro rostro, contra el nubarrón ya sin que me faltaban el Gradus y el primer tomo de la Naturalis historia. hacia el alba: Mi memoría, señor, es como vacíadero de basuras. Una y la presión de una realidad tan infatigable como la que día y noche límites. Bernardo le gritó imprevisiblemente: ¿Qué horas son, Ireneo? El “Saturno” zarpaba al día siguiente, por la mañana; esa noche, circunferencia en un pizarrón, un triángulo rectángulo, un rombo, son convergía sobre el infeliz Ireneo, en su pobre arrabal sudamericano. Sin consultar el cielo, sin detenerse, el otro respondió: Faltan cuatro después de cenar, me encaminé a casa de Funes. Me asombró que la formas que podemos intuir plenamente; lo mismo le pasaba a Ireneo Le era muy difícil dormir. Dormir es distraerse del mundo; Funes, mínutos para las ocho, joven Bernardo Juan Francisco. La voz era noche fuera no menos pesada que el día. con las aborrascadas crines de un potro, con una punta de ganado en de espaldas en el catre, en la sombra, se figuraba cada grieta y cada aguda, burlona. En el decente rancho, la madre de Funes me recibió. Me dijo una cuchilla, con el fuego cambiante y con la innumerable ceniza, moldura de las casas precisas que lo rodeaban. (Repito que el menos Yo soy tan distraído que el diálogo que acabo de referir no me que Ireneo estaba en la pieza del fondo y que no me extrañara encon- con las muchas caras de un muerto en un largo velorio. No sé cuántas importante de sus recuerdos era más minucios y más vivo que nuestra hubiera llamado la atención si no lo hubiera recalcado mi primo, a trarla a oscuras, porque Ireneo sabía pasarse las horas muertas sin estrellas veía en el cielo. percepción de un goce físico o de un tormento físico.) Hacia el Este, quien estimulaban (creo) cierto orgullo local, y el deseo de mostrarse encender la vela. Atravesé el patio de baldosa, el corredorcito; llegué Esas cosas me dijo; ni entonces ni después las he puesto en en un trecho no amanzanado, había casas nuevas, desconocidas. Fu- indiferente a la réplica tripartita del otro. al segundo patio. Había una parra; la oscuridad pudo parecerme total. duda. En aquel tiempo no había cinematógrafos ni fonógrafos; es, nes las imaginaba negras, compactas, hechas de tiniebla homogénea; Me dijo que el muchacho del callejón era un tal Ireneo Funes, Oí de pronto la alta y burlona voz de Ireneo. Esa voz hablaba en latín; sin embargo, inverosímil y hasta increíble que nadie hiciera un en esa dirección volvía la cara para dormir. También solía imaginarse mentado por algunas rarezas como la de no darse con nadie y la de esa voz (que venía de la tiniebla) articulaba con moroso deleite un experimento con Funes. Lo cierto es que vivimos postergando todo en el fondo del río, mecido y anulado por la corriente. saber siempre la hora, como un reloj. Agregó que era hijo de una discurso o plegaria o incantación. Resonaron las sílabas romanas en lo postergable; tal vez todos sabemos profundamente que somos Había aprendido sin esfuerzo el inglés, el francés, el portugués, planchadora del pueblo, María Clementina Funes, y que algunos el patio de tierra; mi temor las creía indescifrables, interminables; in—mortales y que tarde o temprano, todo hombre hará todas las el latín. Sospecho, sin embargo, que no era muy capaz de pensar. Pen- decían que su padre era un médico del saladero, un inglés O’Connor, después, en el enorme diálogo de esa noche, supe que formaban cosas y sabrá todo. sar es olvidar diferencias, es generalizar, abstraer. En el abarrotado y otros un domador o rastreador del departamento del Salto. Vivía el primer párrafo del vigésimocuarto capítulo del libro séptimo de La voz de Funes, desde la oscuridad, seguía hablando.. mundo de Funes no había sino detalles, casi inmediatos. con su madre, a la vuelta de la quinta de los Laureles. la Naturalis historia. La materia de ese capítulo es la memoria; las Me dijo que hacia 1886 había discurrido un sistema original de La recelosa claridad de la madrugada entró por el patio de Los años ochenta y cinco y ochenta y seis veraneamos en palabras últimas fueron ut nihil non usdem verbis redderetur auditum. numeración y que en muy pocos días había rebasado el veinticuatro tierra. la ciudad de Montevideo. El ochenta y siete volví a Fray Bentos. Sin el menor cambio de voz, Ireneo me dijo que pasara. Estaba mil. No lo había escrito, porque lo pensado una sola vez ya no podía Entonces vi la cara de la voz que toda la noche había hablado. Pregunté, como es natural, por todos los conocidos y, finalmente, por en el catre, fumando. Me parece que no le vi la cara hasta el alba; borrársele. Su primer estímulo, creo, fue el desagrado de que los Ireneo tenía diecinueve años; había nacido en 1868; me pareció el “cronométrico Funes”. Me contestaron que lo había volteado un creo rememorar el ascua momentánea del cigarrillo. La pieza olía treinta y tres orientales requirieran dos signos y tres palabras, en lugar monumental como el bronce, más antiguo que Egipto, anterior a las redomón en la estancia de San Francisco, y que había quedado tul- vagamente a humedad. Me senté; repetí la historia del telegrama y de una sola palabra y un solo signo. Aplicó luego ese disparatado profecías y a las pirámides. Pensé que cada una de mis palabras (que lido, sin esperanza. Recuerdo la impresión de incómoda magia que la de la enfermedad de mi padre. Arribo, ahora, al más dificil punto principio a los otros números. En lugar de siete mil trece, decía (por cada uno de mis gestos) perduraría en su implacable memoria; me noticia me produjo: la única vez que yo lo vi, veníamos a caballo de de mi relato. Este (bueno es que ya lo sepa el lector) no tiene otro ejemplo) Máximo Pérez; en lugar de siete mil catorce, El Ferrocarril; entorpeció el temor de multiplicar ademanes inútiles. San Francisco y él andaba en un lugar alto; el hecho, en boca de mi argumento que ese diálogo de hace ya medio siglo. No trataré de otros números eran Luis Melián Lafinur, Olimar, azufre, los bastos, Ireneo Funes murió en 1889, de una congestión pulmonar. 021 LOCKE, IN THE SEVENTEENTH EACH STONE, EACH BIRD AND BRANCH HAD AN INDIVIDUAL NAME; IT AS TOO RENOUNCED FUNES NOT ONLY REMEMBERED EVERY LEAF ON EVERY TREE OF EVERY IMAGINED IT.` AMBIGUOUS. IN EFFECT, FUNES CENTURY, POSTULATED (AND RE- WHICH EACH INDIVIDUAL OBJECT, WOOD, BUT EVEN EVERY ONE OF JECTED) AN IMPOSSIBLE IDIOM IN THE TIMES HE HAD PERCEIVED OR THE TIMES HEHADPERCEIVEDOR JECTED) AN IMPOSSIBLE IDIOMIN WHICH EACHINDIVIDUALOBJECT, CENTURY, POSTULATED (ANDRE- WOOD, BUTEVENEVERY ONEOF NOT ONLY REMEMBEREDEVERY LEAF ONEVERY TREE OFEVERY AMBIGUOUS. INEFFECT, FUNES FUNES RENOUNCED IT ASTOO RENOUNCED FUNES EACH STONE, EACH BIRD AND LOCKE, IN THE SEVENTEENTH BRANCH HAD AN INDIVIDUAL IMAGINED IT.` NAME;

022 I SUSPECT, NEVERTHELESS, THAT HE WAS NOT VERY CAPABLE OF THOUGHT. TO THINK IS TO FORGET A DIFFERENCE, TO GENERALIZE, TO AB- STRACT. IN THE OVERLY REPLETE WORLD OF FU- NES THERE WERE NOTHING BUT DETAILS, AL- MOST CONTIGUOUS DETAILS.

Locke, in the seventeenth century, postulated (and rejected) an stammering greatness. They allow us to make out dimly, or to reality as indefatigable as that which day and night converged upon To think is to forget a difference, to generalize, to abstract. In the impossible idiom in which each individual object, each stone, each infer, the dizzying world of Funes. He was, let us not forget, almost the unfortunate Ireneo in his humble South American farmhouse. It overly replete world of Funes there were nothing but details, almost bird and branch had an individual name; Funes had once projected incapable of general, platonic ideas. It was not only difficult for him was very difficult for him to sleep. To sleep is to be abstracted from contiguous details. an analogous idiom, but he had renounced it as being too general, too to understand that the generic term dog embraced so many unlike the world; Funes, on his back in his cot, in the shadows, imagined ambiguous. In effect, Funes not only remembered every leaf on every specimens of differing sizes and different forms; he was disturbed by every crevice and every moulding of the various houses which The equivocal clarity of dawn penetrated along the earthen patio. tree of every wood, but even every one of the times he had perceived the fact that a dog at three-fourteen (seen in profile) should have the surrounded him. (I repeat, the least important of his recollections or imagined it. He determined to reduce all of his past experience to same name as the dog at three-fifteen (seen from the front). His own was more minutely precise and more lively than our perception of a Then it was that I saw the face of the voice which had spoken all some seventy thousand recollections, which he would later define face in the mirror, his own hands, surprised him on every occasion. physical pleasure or a physical torment.) Toward the east, in a section through the night. Ireneo was nineteen years old; he had been born in numerically. Two considerations dissuaded him: the thought that the Swift writes that the emperor of Lilliput could discern the movement which was not yet cut into blocks of homes, there were some new 1868; he seemed as monumental as bronze, more ancient than Egypt, task was interminable and the thought that it was useless. He knew of the minute hand; Funes could continuously make out the tranquil unknown houses. Funes imagined them black, compact, made of a anterior to the prophecies and the pyramids. It occurred to me that that at the hour of his death he would scarcely have finished classify- advances of corruption, of caries, of fatigue. He noted the progress of single obscurity; he would turn his face in this direction in order to each one of my words (each one of my gestures) would live on in ing even all the memories of his childhood. death, of moisture. He was the solitary and lucid spectator of a multi- sleep. He would also imagine himself at the bottom of the river, being his implacable memory; I was benumbed by the fear of multiplying form world which was instantaneously and almost intolerably exact. rocked and annihilated by the current. superfluous gestures. The two projects I have indicated (an infinite vocabulary for the Babylon, London, and New York have overawed the imagination of natural series of numbers, and a usable mental catalogue of all the men with their ferocious splendour; no one, in those populous towers Without effort, he had learned English, French, Portuguese, Latin. Ireneo Funes died in 1889, of a pulmonary congestion.

images of memory) are lacking in sense, but they reveal a certain or upon those surging avenues, has felt the heat and pressure of a I suspect, nevertheless, that he was not very capable of thought. 023 PARADOX / SOMETIMES \ the paradox of praxis sometimes making something leads to nothing francis als francis als mexico city mexico city 1997 1997 4:59 4:59

paradox / sometimes

The performance Sometimes street, and as it melts the weight object of the work in relation to Making Something Leads to dissolves pushing it lightly with the ideas of the work. This is Nothing, recorded in the film his foot, until all that is left is an exploration of the transition Paradox of Praxis I, involves a wet stain on the pavement. between what is there and what Alÿs pushing a block of ice In this as well as many of his we are left with and the under- throughout the streets of Mexico other works there is a balance standing of what happens in the City. Starting in the morning between presence and absence. space between the two. Alÿs struggles to move the block Alÿs calls attention to the subject

of ice against the friction of the of the piece, questioning the 024 M R 4:59 1997 MEXICO CITY FRANCIS ALS LEADS TONOTHING SOMETIMES MAKINGSOMETHING THE PARADOX OFPRAXIS LEADS TONOTHING SOMETIMES MAKINGSOMETHING THE PARADOX OFPRAXIS A I A T E L

025 RE

Tsien explain the dichotomy between the experi- the ocean, and then you see a grain of oddly col- It [Zócalo] really is like a safety valve, an escape from the urban congestion... ence grounded in place and representation of that ored sand. The boundaries of what one chooses experience abstracted and removed from it. to perceive are constantly expanding and con- It is also a major point of orientation. And what is more, in a highly symbolic tracting. And of course there are the myriad stray context. For to the east you have the power of the State which is repre- The perception of [place] is less and less under- thoughts, memories, and images that are called up sented by the Palacio Nacional, to the south is the power of the Municipaili- standable through photographs. One can only by what you see that color and shade the actual ty represented by the administration buildings of the Gobierno de la Ciudad, understand it by being there and moving and space. There are the distractions (and perhaps to the north you have the power of the Church which is represented by staying still. Often the most important space is the one can also see them as positive additions) of the Catherdral, and to the west is the power of tourism represented by the empty space that is contained by the built forms. sound, smell, shifting light, and the conversations large hotels: the Majestic, the Grand Hotel Ciudad de Mexico, and most It is the invisible magnet which holds together the of passers by. This can only happen when you are recently, the Holiday Inn, the foreign token. And in the center of course is separate buildings, and provides the coherence there.”2 the Madre Patri with the national flag, and in the shade of this flag the mani- which makes [it] feel whole. So what is not there festations of the informal economy with its countless peddlers. And, all that is equally important, perhaps more important Alÿs looks at the specific aspects of Mexico City sitting on top of (if not built with) the ruins of the old ceremonial center of than what is there. How does one photograph to explore universal ideas. He takes the everyday the pre-Hispanic city of Tenochtitlan.1 nothing? One experiences it. qualities of the local and the mundane to present ideas of presence. It is the perceptive experience Francis Als “…A human eye scans panoramically, and then Alÿs has within the space that he uses to expose suddenly focuses down on a tiny point. You see the subtle unnoticed qualities of the place. It is 026 SUCH WOULD BE THE SUCCESSIVE PHASES OF THE IMAGE: IT IS THE REFLECTION OF A PROFOUND REALITY; IT MASKS AND DENATURES A PROFOUND REALITY; IT MASKS THE ABSENCE OF A PROFOUND REALITY; IT HAS NO RELATION TO ANY REALITY WHATSOEVER: IT IS ITS OWN PURE SIMULACRUM. 3JEAN BAUDRILLARD

RE the presence of the local that Alÿs uses to engage but the removed experience of something other the utopia of the principle of equivalence from selves. Depending on the media that ultimately global ideas, and it is these ideas grounded within through which it is seen. As expressed in the way the radical negation of the sign as value, from the represents the experience it is often questionable local origins that are being presented to outsiders, Francis Alÿs’ work physically manifests itself, Jean sign as the reversion and death sentence of every weather the performance truly occurred. The largely consumed by western art markets. Baudrillard writes about representation as not reference. Whereas representation attempts profound nature of Alÿs’ work becomes not the conveying the ideas or truth of its subject, but that to absorb simulation by interpreting it as a false expression of the media, but the idea or content Alÿs is translating the everyday experience into it creates a simulation that becomes the subject, representation, simulation envelops the edifice of of that media. In a sense, as far as the art world is performance in order to communicate, both and therefore it itself is the truth. representation itself as a simulacrum.”4 concerned, it doesn’t matter if Alÿs truly enacted to himself as well as others, however, it is not these performances. His art disconnects from the experience, and not even the performance, “It [representation] is no longer itself anything but Through this perspective it is questionable what of the material aspect of the work as well as the that is communicating but the representation of a gigantic simulacrum – not unreal, but a simula- Alÿs’ work is considered art. The art world con- traditional notion of authorship, leaving behind a that performance. The tangible outcomes of his crum, that is to say never exchanged for the real, sumes the representations of the performances, set of instructions that any individual can reenact. work, the representations, are abstracting and but exchanged for itself, in an uninterrupted cir- documenting the staged interventions he enacts The act of the walk itself becomes the medium in distorting the reality of the experience. This is cuit without reference for circumference. Such is within a place, but it is the experience itself which Alÿs’ experience, but the idea generated from that inherently necessary for Alÿs to create a dialogue simulation, insofar as it is opposed to representa- truly engages an awareness of the particular becomes the medium of his art. Like any action, with anyone outside of himself, however, the tion. Representations stem from the principle of nature of the place, affecting and interacting with it is not the act of the action itself that holds value experience of the art then becomes distinct from the equivalence of the sign and of the real (even the cultural influences that define it. The repre- but the effect that action has. The awareness of the experience of the performance. It is not the if this equivalence is utopian, it is a fundamental sentations of the performance become something the audience comes from not from the source of performative experience firsthand that is shared, axiom). Simulation, on the contrary, stems from entirely distinct from the performances them- the media, be those the walks or the representa- RE tions of the walks, but the idea generated from The actions of Alÿs’ performances are in a sense meaning or lack of meaning embedded within and cartoon version of the objective profile of that process. void of a contextual and particular relevance and those actions. America, capturing its way of life, values, and ideals. this is why they are able to bring awareness to Disneyland in this sense is not a false representa- In a sense Alÿs’ staged narratives lack a sense of their actions. They are not void of content, but “It is always a question of proving the real through tion of America, but hides the false nature of validity in that they are not truly everyday experi- the content becomes almost independent of the the imaginary, proving truth through scandal, simulation within the American reality. Disneyland ences. Because they are staged, they seem partial- action, and with nothing else to focus upon, all proving law through transgression, proving work is presented as imaginary giving the sense that ly hollow in that the experience of the narratives that is left is the action leading to an awareness of through striking, proving the system through crisis, everything else is real, masking the simulation Alÿs undergoes act as translations of everyday what one is doing and what is happening within and capital through revolution... Everything is within Los Angeles and the rest of the country. It experiences. However, the acts themselves are the environment one is surrounded by. metamorphosed into its opposite to perpetuate conceals the very nature that the real is removed grounded within the particular context of the itself in its expurgated form.”5 from a pure sense of reality. place, in that they interact and affect the people Alÿs’ performances which are void of logical and the place. Similar to the street vendor setting meaning, through Baudrillard’s logic are not false Baudrillard explains that Disneyland, a place “The imaginary of Disneyland is neither true nor up shop or the homeless arranging his posses- and removed from reality, but it is the meaning- founded on the illusions of iconic American cul- false, it is a deterrence machine set up in order to sions, the act of Alÿs’ performances are, as actions, lessness of the act which brings the everyday ac- ture representing a glossy and distorted version rejuvenate the fiction of the real in the opposite no more or less arbitrary than those of everyone tion into question and therefore becomes more of its past, is not a false reality but exposes the camp... Disneyland: a space of the regeneration else going about life. It is the underlying reasoning present within reality. It is the void of meaning false nature of the American reality. In Disney- of the imaginary as waste-treatment plants are behind the action that separates Alÿs’ perfor- within Alÿs’ performances that bring an aware- land’s imaginary worlds of Pirates, the Frontier, Fu- elsewhere... Everywhere today one must recycle mances from the genuine actions of everyday life. ness to the act of everyday routine as well as the ture World, etc. it is encompassing a miniaturized waste, and the dreams the phantasms, the histori- 028 rences. many strangeoccur walk clumsilyamong reflexes orsight.I inability totrustmy inner resistance. my physicalstate. necting mentallywith Difficulties incon- liquors andalcohol). withlocalto start the stuff, Idecide problems infinding (Due topractical MAY 5 SPIRITS 1 ent drugeachday. seven days,undertheinfluenceofadiffer I willwalkinthecityovercourseof COPENHAGEN DK MAY 5-111996 FRANCIS ALS NARCO TOURISM / - heavenly. sandwich tastes closed. Apastrami walking withmyeyes Soundless speech. funny.is enormously in action.everything muscleness ofevery Slow motion.Aware- MAY 6 HASHISH 2 / - familiar spotinsight. walk, Ialwayskeepa on thestreet. AsI avoid encounters own presence, and fear thesignsofmy noia. Coldfeet.I para- Deambulatory MAY 7 SPEED 3 / breathing atnight. the day. Difficulty return attheendof fade fast,butthe Danube. Theeffects as Iwalkalongthe of frozen images place. Asequence feel attunedtothe me break theiceand whichhelpswarmth Felling ofinner MAY 8 HEROIN 4 / thirst. night, nauseaand ing diminished.At Appetite goneSmok- acuity enhanced. sual echo.Auditory not followedbyavi- change ofstate,but Awareness ofa MAY 9 COCAINE 5 / intervals. pop upatregular bittersweet memories ing. Whilewalking, occasional vomit- Frequent pissingand Regular smoking. ence tocontext. Asthenia. indiffer Valium. Weariness. MAY 10 VALIUM 6 / - world. the epicenterof ceptually. Ifeellike physically butcon- tomoves,notI turn walk out.Everything I feeltheurgeto My shoesmoveand and erotic impulses. Visual brightening MAY 11 ECSTASY 7 / help sinkingintoit. stood itbutcouldnot depression. Iunder lowed byaperiodof wasfol- The journey MAY 12 ______8 \ -

029 RE cal fairylike legendary imaginary of children and through the act which is void of meaning that all the realm of capturing the everyday experience adults is a waste product... all the sexual psychic, other actions can be seen as inherently lacking grounded within the particular nature of the place, somatic recycling institutes, which proliferate in meaning. Through the performance of the mean- but the profound effect of that work for anyone California, belong to the same order. People no ingless act Alÿs responds to the environment he’s beside himself becomes the ideas within the longer look at each other but there are institutes within, exposing the meaningless nature of the work, and those ideas never leave the context of for that. They no longer touch each other, but actions that create it. the universal. Within the social context of Alÿs’ there is contactotherapy, They no longer walk, performances he acts as a contributor and an but they go jogging, etc. Everywhere one recycles Alÿs, having left a European upbringing and observer to the experience, both a human being lost faculties, or lost bodies, or lost sociality or the education, as an outsider thrown into a mash- and an artist.7 lost taste for food. One reinvents penury asceti- ing of cultures within Mexico City, exists within cism, vanished savage naturalness: natural food, a mixed society of European intellectuals and health food, yoga. “6 Indian natives. His work plays within each of these realms, the action belonging to the local Like the imaginary of Disneyland, it is only and cultural context, subtly impacting and affecting through the opposite that the nature is exposed. the physical nature of the place and those that It is through the meaningless act that the implicit inhabit it, where the content of the actions, the nature of actions becomes evident and an aware- ideas behind them, are situated within western ness of the experience is generated. It is only art and the global discourse. His work lies within 030

documenting time abstracting paperspace flattening physicalspace TRANSLATING PROCESS DOCUMENTING CHANGE DOCUMENT

032 TWO section 2_ outcome 033 SECTION 2 Only if we are capable of dwelling, Section two draws conclusions from the proj- only then can we build.1 ects, ideas, and processes of the writers, artists, and architects whose work has been explored, Martin Heidegger Building, Dwelling, Thinking as well as self driven projects exploring parallel lines of thought. These conclusions are defined (expressed )as experiential qualities, which extract specific ways in which we interact with the environment. They are pulled from under- standings of how we perceive our environment in order to better understand the way in which designing and building can adapt to the human experience. If we accept that a deeper connec- tion to our experiences and the environment they occur within is beneficial, then it is the understanding of how we experience the envi- ronment that must drive the design process. 034 035

MEMORY TRANSFORMATION

The processes of Long, Alÿs, Turrell, and Irwin il- the personal influence one’s mental framework ship of the place, which grows deeper as time lustrate the deep seeded and inherent association and past experiences impart on the understand- passes and it becomes more familiar. There is a personal memory and expectation have in our ing of place. sense of comparison between experiences, and experience of space. The experiential explora- a development from what existed before. The tions they undertake attempt to eliminate filters The initial experience one has within a space space and the environment it contains have been and associations solely to remove the layering and makes a significant impact upon future interac- granted a place within the memories of those framework they impart upon our experiences. tions within that place. The second time one experiencing it. Necessary in understanding the physicality and experience a place, a recollection of the past presence of a place from an external and objec- leaves an interpretation and an expectation of Places one knows well, those from childhood or tive viewpoint, their process works to remove what one will encounter. It is no longer entirely one’s home, take on a different quality altogether. the subjective nature of memory and expectation. foreign, and that understanding provides a sense The place in a sense loses its physicality and be- Their focused process of filtering demonstrates of reassurance. One takes more of an owner- comes defined almost entirely by memory. It be- + + + 6/ realize disconnect...bias 5/ connectimageandllightperception 4/ drawthelight 3/ shutouttheimage 2/ attempttoremove association 1/ look...stare light perception vobjectdefinition blind drawings DRAWING LIGHT

037 MR comes an understanding of space defined by the ently internal, defined by the narrative of one’s life, ditional kitchen. There was nothing special about the random occurrences and inconsistencies that experiences that occurred there. The memories that creates a personal connection to the place. it. But perhaps it was just the fact that it was so make up the intimate and interwoven nature of one’s past experience are framed by the space These personal memories of places begin to very much, so very naturally, a kitchen that has of life, only exists within the reality of the place. they occurred within, and the space exists as a define one’s understanding of what a place is and imprinted its memory indelibly on my mind. The Alÿs’ walks occupy a zone that is both within and supportive role. The memory is always one of an should be. Peter Zumthor talks about childhood atmosphere of this room is insolubly linked with removed from the reality of the street, affecting experience or a blurring of experiences, and with- memories shaping his understanding of place. my idea of a kitchen.”1 the context while commenting upon it, but it is out that experience occurring within the place, the context of the mundane that embodies all of the space becomes meaningless. Memories of a “Sometimes I can almost feel a particular door What define these memories are qualities of the the subtle, messy, inconsistent qualities of life that place are defined by experiential qualities thought handle in my hand, a piece of metal shaped mundane and the everyday. They exist within constitute the relevance of the ideas and com- of in subjective terms, removed from the process like the back of a spoon. I used to take hold the personal realm of a particular place. The mentary within the work. of abstract and universal thinking, grounded in a of it when I went into my aunt’s garden. That work of Francis Alÿs is defined by these qualities, specific and personal response. Over time mem- door handle still seems to me like a special sign existing within the celebrated public squares and ories distort experience and space, affected by of entry into a world of different moods and the overlooked street corridors of Mexico City, the layering of thoughts, emotions, and future ex- smells… I walk along the dark corridor and enter and through this, the complexity of presences periences. They become a part of the individual, the kitchen, the only really brightly lit room in the that occur at any given place are brought into molded over time, which becomes distinct from house… the only room in the house which did the foreground. The experience of the specific the way in which another would experience the not appear to disappear into twilight… place with the intentions and actions of unknown place. It is a unique relationship which is inher- Everything about this kitchen was typical of a tra- people, the distinct and marginalized histories, 038 Jorge LouisBorges that comeswitheachreading. is theaestheticact,thrill, almost physicalemotion symbols printedonthepageofa book.Whatisessential lies inthemeetingofpoemandreader, notinthelinesof the palate,notinfruititself; asimilarway…poetry The tasteoftheapple…liesin contactofthefruitwith MEETING

039 040

TEXTURE CONTEXT

The way in which one perceives the surfaces spatial organization of it. They way in which has a kind of aura, that nothing is wholly static, of the environment exists at the most basic light, texture, and color are perceived inform a that color itself emanates a kind of energy You level of experiencing the physicality of a place. sense of the grounding, scale, layering, and en- noted each individual leaf, each individual tree.”2 Reading the qualities of materials which define ergy embodied within the environment. Turrell, and create our environment allow one to be- Irwin, and Wortz spoke of the effect that the Beyond a basic spatial understanding, sur- come situated within a place. At a fundamental, auditory and visual deprivation of the anechoic faces and materials begin to convey qualities subconscious level, one is able to distinguish chamber had on their perception of materials of weight within a space. They allow one to between surfaces, read distances, and develop and surfaces upon exiting. become grounded, orienting themselves in a spatial framework which allows one to oper- relation to the environment. The forms which ate within a space. But the qualities of the “For a few hours after you came out… you define the environment reinforce one’s under- materials which define our environment begin really did become more energy conscious… standing of direction and gravity, but the texture, to inform our reading of a place far beyond the not just that leaves move, but that everything porosity, and density of materials subconscious- COLLECTOR / COLLECTOR / francis als mexico city in collaboration with 1990 - 1992 felipe sanabria photographs film

the collector

francis als For an indeterminate period of process goes on until the collec- 1990 - 1992 time, the magnetized collector tor is completely covered by its in collaboration with takes a daily walk through the trophies.1 felipe sanabria streets and gradually builds magnet, metal, and rubber up a coat made of any metallic 8 x 10 in residue lying in its path. This 041 042 CITY SURFACE PAPER SURFACE

SCREEN 043 TX ly strengthen that understanding. Richard Serra “The content resides in the viewer’s experience variation in the focus and depth of texture, gen- The human scale, that of the body, through describes of the ability of a surface to alter of the space and place… for example, two erating a greater understanding of an object the which one’s experience is defined is the most one’s perception in that, If you flame [steel] that black canvases on walls opposite each other closer one becomes. Charles and Ray Eames’ direct sphere of activity we experience. It is forged as it cools down, you have a chance of compress and redefine the physical volume of film Powers of Ten abstracts the perception of is at that scale that individuals and society retaining the coloration of the surface, whereas the space and weight of the room. [Its] the the environment at different scales. It illustrates attempt to manipulate, organize, and control if you sandblast it, it turns grey and denies the deliberate step-by-step procedure of forming the depth of meaning and information present the environment. Looking past the scale of weight, it looks more like aluminum.”3 The mass, the weight and directionality of the line… Your within the environment and the influence what society directly organizes, past that of weight, and directionality of space are percep- perception of the room is mediated through distance has over one’s ability to perceive the the building and neighborhood grid, increasing tually translated through the surface quality the drawing in terms of weight, space, place, environment. It demonstrates the natural to the scale of the city, an organic and natural of the materials, and the tactile and auditory and time.”4 -Richard Serra cycles that occur within the scales of our en- order takes over. Development within the perception of material reinforce one’s visual vironment, centered around clusters of activity, landscape occurs, creating a reaction to natural understanding of it, simultaneously and congru- In addition to weight, the surface qualities and the intermediary periods of inactivity which forms, but also a natural growth through human ently informing the subconscious understanding within a space define one’s understanding of support those clusters. Patterns between these activity occurs, consistently developing in an one has of a place. This perceptual understand- scale. Texture and light generate an awareness cycles take on similar visual representations, organic and unordered manner. The unordered ing of weight within space becomes an inherent of depth furthering one’s sense of orientation exposing connections between opposing ends development based upon human action is also aspect within Serra’s work. within space. The distance between someone of the spectrum.5 seen at smaller scales within other systems of and the surface defining the space creates organization. Within a city grid the way the 044

TX buildings are structured, or within a crowded dication of the memory of the space. The trace passing and an awareness of the human lives path how individuals move. It is the distinction of human experience, the natural environment, that have been acted out in these places and between the action of an individual, and the and the passing of time are captured within the rooms and charged them with a special aura. individual actions of many. Organization at a marks and texture of a surface. The awareness At these moments, architecture’s aesthetic and larger scale becomes an issue of power, reliant of time and transformation it generates allows practical values, stylistic and historical signifi- upon the ability of an individual or group to one to perceive the place they occupy within cance are of secondary importance. What mat- impart control and order over others inhabiting the life of the object and space. Peter Zumthor ters now is only this feeling of deep melancholy. or affecting an area. But when the extent of a describes the power of weathering in conveying Architecture is exposed to life. If its body is space reaches a certain scale, power diminishes the life and energy of a place. sensitive enough, it can assume a quality that and a natural order takes over. The natural bears witness to the reality of past life.6 progression at a large scale is comparable to what occurs at the scale of materials. As scale The patina of age on materials, of innumerable decreases, the order and control an individual small scratches on surfaces, of varnish that has posses gives way to the properties of material grown dull and brittle, and of edges polished and their manipulation over time. by use. When I close my eyes and try to forget both these physical traces and my own first The surface of a material conveys a sense of associations, what remains is a different impres- history as it layers past use. It is the physical in- sion, a deeper feeling—a consciousness of time 046 047 048

REHEARSALS TIME

Time as a quantifiable and unquestioned truth graphs capture only instances in time, the per- remnants are not easily measured visually. In is critically examined within Alÿs’ work. The formance processes act as the meter by which addition, the editing within the representations documentation of the paseos, the walking per- the passing of time is measured. Changes is not an ordered system, such as a photograph formances, collapses the time of the experience. within the processes of the paseos show the taken at a predetermined interval of time, but The processes Alÿs uses to engage the city linear passing and progression of time, however, one of an intuitive nature, which captures the makes apparent the change within the perfor- time is made less quantifiable in that the results qualities of the processes within the environ- mance or the affect it has had upon the city in of the actions are not intrinsically tied with time ment. This leads to an awareness of the passing relation to time. The representations, especially but the conditions of the space they are placed of time while diminishing the qualities of time as photography and film, capture the disconnect within. These results when viewed through the a quantifiable commodity. between the experience of the performance representation are not perceivable to the point and the viewing of the documentation. Because of precision in that the time associated with Time within the paseos is also measured those films are not continuous and the photo- the melting of ice or the gathering of metallic through the passing of space. Similar to how Francis Alÿsincollaborationwith Cuentós Patrioticos Patriotic TalesW Rafael Ortega CUENTOS Rafael Ortega laboration with Francis Alÿsincol- Patriotic TalesW Cuentós Patrioticos Distrito Federal,Mexico Mexico City El Zócalo 24:40 minutes CUENTOS PATRIÓTICOS / PATRIÓTICOS Distrito Federal,Mexico Mexico City El Zócalo 24:40 minutes

049 TIME

It was my first attempt to take up the subject ally progressed because of its own inertia, was a method to it... the narrative principle... there comes a moment where you have to let of the particular perception of time, or rather the inertia of the story itself and that of the It was eventually resolved simply because it go, when you become a spectator watch- this particular way of living time that I have team of people involved in this project... In there were so many people involved in it ing the reading and translation by others of encountered here. There was something a way, the very thing that I was trying to already: the actors/singers, all these friends you own proposition. paradoxical about the Cantos. It is based express, or perhaps it would be better to who had given their opinions, the production on a script or scenario that was quite simple say: to illustrate, namely that turning round in assistants... The film had to be completed 6francis Als and clear, but the more I progressed, the circles can be a way of advancing, actually because I had a responsibility vis-à-vis all of more I began to entangle and lose myself happened in the filming itself. No one knew my co-authors and their expectations. There in the construction of the story, to the point any more where things were going in the came a point where the others took charge where I actually did not know anything any film, but in some way it did progress... In of the story – not the narrative itself to be more and had to move on in a “blind” way, the end, perhaps this was how the method sure, but its enunciation, its form. even if sort of on autopilot... The piece eventu- behind the work revealed itself, if there really you yourself have initiated this conversation, 050 SOUTHERN COUNTRIES’ ECONOMIES ARE THE CONSTANT EXPRESSION OF FAILED MODERNIZATION. IT IS NO ACCIDENT THAT THEY SEEM TO BE UNDER THE CURSE OF AN ETERNAL RETURN: TO START A PRO- CESS OF DEVELOPMENT OVER AGAIN EVERY FIVE OR TEN YEARS AND LEAVE IT INCOMPLETE AFTER COMING ACROSS NEW OBSTACLES. WHEN THIS HAPPENS IN CONDITIONS OF INEQUALITY, DEGRADA- TION, AND COERCION, THE ECONOMY NEV- ER MANAGES TO GAIN GROUND. THERE ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH REASONS; THE WOUNDS LEFT BY EXPLOITATION MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN AN ETHICS OF WORK AND THE NEO-COLO- NIAL EXTRACTION OF WEALTH DOES NOT GENERATE MARKETS ACTIVATED BY THE SEDUCTION OF CONSUMERISM. 5FRANCIS ALŸS 051 RE space is measured by time, in that the distance States keeps it within the world view and places The continually failing progress of western in the city is one of survival, with many people, from one place to another is quantified by the desires and values of western civilization modernization within Mexico City can be including professionals, working multiple jobs. the time it takes to travel there, the passing of upon Mexico. They are constantly progressing heavily attributed to its divide in wealth, which This translates into a mentality of self-driven time within the representations is understood towards an ideal of what other nations have is especially high and fraught with violence. initiative and a pride of ownership that drives through the movement or implied movement without ever reaching the point of that suc- Kidnappings and murders per capita are twice the culture of the city. of the constantly shifting environment. How- cess. It is a perpetual system focused upon the that of the United States. The lack of formal ever, unlike the measuring of space by time, the process of achieving without ever synthesizing jobs leads many to illegitimate means to make Despite Mexico City’s many social issues, understanding of time through space is much a result. It is an inwardly focused system caught an income. The police force makes one quarter strained infrastructure, and chaotic growth, it less precise. The editing of the representations up in progress without questioning to what of the amount compared to equivalent wages never became the catastrophe that it was often as well as the ubiquitous nature of the environ- end it is progressing. Focus is placed upon ef- in New York City, leading many officers to cor- projected to become. Growth within the city ment leads to only an awareness of the passing ficiency and progress as opposed to looking at ruption which filters upward through the ranks has slowed in an almost self-regulatory manner, of time without the ability to clearly quantify it. the resulting lifestyle that will come from these of the force into politics, infiltrating the culture never passing its capacity to function past the choices. It is this constant state of fluctua- of everyday life.2 Many who make a legitimate point where it couldn’t regain some grasp of Alÿs’ later work captures the passing of time tion that Mexico is within, like a pendulum, means of income do it through the informal the situation. As Deyan Sudjic concludes in within Latin America. Mexico as a developing continuously in motion without any sustained sector, bypassing regulation and taxation. Back From the Brink, “Mexico has been growing country has fallen into a sense of perpetual direction.1 Within specific professions such as construction chaotically for long enough to have already movement towards the western developed and street vending the significant majority of revealed the limits of modernization.”3 When nations. The country’s proximity to the United work is done so informally. The working culture it reaches its means it is put in check and this 052 RE back and forth never comes to a clear and lows for subversive and independent processes flagpole in the Zócalo. At each pass around and enters the cyclical pattern in which it only conclusive end but always treads in a circular to take place. It is not without order, but with- the pole another sheep joins in the proces- references itself, losing a starting point or exter- pattern of continual action. out a clearly defined and predetermined order. sion, and one by one sheep are introduced to nal objective measure from which it could be It is an informal order that is defined by the the circle until it is complete and there is no understood. As the first expression of time as “For 25 years Mexico City has captured world- people which is reacted to, and it is the actions longer a beginning or an end. Once the chain is subject within Alÿs’ work he explained that the wide interest as the ever-present, ever-growing, of the people and the underlying processes of completed, the first sheep leaves the proces- process of production came to resemble the ever-developing megacity. This eternal condition the city that lead to the organic, dirty, fluctuat- sion, followed one by one until all that is left is ideas within the performance. of megacityness of being on the edge of either ing, inconsistent nature of the city. It is precisely Alÿs following the last sheep. As the video is disaster or survival, has historically configured this quality that Francis Alÿs engages within his played on a loop it is unclear who is following the local mindsets, its collective consciousness, work. whom. Depending on what point within the its urban policies and its political agendas. It has film the viewer begins watching, there is a clear shared an attitude within the city’s decision- In Cuentos Patrióticos Alÿs uses the subject progression that one is following the other, making bodies and the planning processes that of time as a means of questioning the nature the leader defining the path and the follower is reactive at best.”4 of the action. It illustrates these actions as simply tracing that path, until it reaches a point following the progression of simulation that in which there is no leader and the path is It is the fluctuating character of the city that Baudrillard structures. The performance begins equally defined as a whole by each participant. generates an atmosphere of controlled chaos. with Alÿs walking in a circle followed by a As the roles reverse the path loses any sense The lack of regulation and planning is what is al- single sheep, defining a path around the central of having an original subject which defined it 053 CITY SURFACE / 055 056 057

EXPLORATION PROCESS

Experiencing architecture, in the physical sense, etition. As the experience of space has become The diminished perceptual experience in favor occurs solely within the interaction between increasingly abstracted through signification and of a preconceived understanding of experience the individual and space. It is through the categorization, one’s experience has become leads to the loss of subtle experiential qualities perception of one’s senses and their interpreta- distanced from perception. Particular elements that embody the understanding of time through tion that the experience of space is understood. are brought into focus, allowing the rest to blur cycles and evolution, the imparting of personal The knowledge which generates order and into a subconscious background, and through memory, fluctuation and inconsistency, and an meaning from one’s environment acts as the repeated experiences this understanding cre- understanding of the physical nature of a place. filter through which the translation between ates expectations about our environment that Juhanin Pallasmaa descrcribes space embodying perception and experience occurs, and this lead to a projected notion of the experience these qualities as having the ability to “articu- filter generates expectations and projected one will have. late the experiences of being-in-the-world and notions of experience through history and rep- strengthen our sense of reality and self.”1 EX

The drawings and physical constructions analyzes these qualities within the context of deliberately use abstraction to explore those Mexico City, which exhibits the daily inhabita- qualities within the relationship between the tion of space in a physical and clearly present individual and space, inherent in the everyday manner. It materializes these qualities through experience of life. It explores the process the idea and representation of a construction, of understanding place using the abstraction which embodies this process of observation of ideas through the written word as well as and makes physically present the nature of the visual representation, and the focused analysis place. It is the performance of observation. It of individual experience. The explorations is a machine for seeing the nature of the place. seek to define the underlying qualities inherent It is an exploration in the seeking the literal. in the experience of one’s environment. It 058 059/ NOTES

TEXT CITATIONS

SEC. ONE EXTRAÑO SEC.TWO 1 Seeing Is Forgetting 127-128 1 A Field Guide to Getting Lost. 1 Poetry, Language, Thought 141 2 Jorge Luis Borges, (Eyes of the Skin) 14 2 Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth 324 3 Poetry, Language, Thought 141 3 Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth 322 MEMORY 4 Mellencamp 60 4 Slowness. TWBT Firm Monograph 1 Thinking Architecture 9 5 Baudelaire 118 5 Seeing Is Forgetting 129 6 Seeing Is Forgetting 129 TEXTURE PASEOS 7 Steps to an Ecology of the Mind 16 1 Francis Alÿs: Politics of Rehearsal 30 1 Richard Long: Selected Statements & Interviews 29 8 Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth 321 2 Seeing Is Forgetting 129 2 Richard Long: Selected Statements & Interviews 27 9 For the Blind Man 44-45 3 Serra, Richard. Writings Interviews 265 3 Richard Long: Selected Statements & Interviews 110 4 Serra, Richard. Writings Interviews 255 4 The practice of everyday life 93 ALŸS 5 Powers of 10 5 Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance from the Studio 101 1 The 1985 Mexico Earchquake 5-9 6 Thinking Architecture 24-25 6 Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance from the Studio. 101 2 The Health Care Reform in Mexico: 637-680 REHEARSALS REPRESENTATION & MEANING 1 Siobhan Davies + Francis Alÿs Interview 1 Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance from the Studio. 79 2 The Endless City: The Urban Age Project 2 Slowness. TWBT Firm Monograph 3 The Endless City: The Urban Age Project 3 Simulacra and Simulation 6 4 The Endless City: The Urban Age Project 4 Simulacra and Simulation 6 5 Maximun Effort, Minimum Result 147 5 Simulacra and Simulation 19 6 Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance 87-91 6 Simulacra and Simulation 13 7 Francis Alÿs: Walking Distance from the Studio 11 EXPLORATION 1 Eyes of the Skin 11 060/ NOTES

PAGE IMAGE CITATIONS

VIII Document Iteration. Author 005 Walk of Richard Long. RL Statements and Interviews 32 008 Brick from the ruins of Pruitt Igoe. Author 011 A line, Richard Long. RL Statements and Interviews 104 024-5 Paradox of Praxis, Francis Alÿs. Politics of Rehearsal 55-60 031 Salt Block Print. Author 032 Salt Block Profile. Author 036-7 Drawing Light. Author 039 Metal Cross. TWBT Architects twbta.com 041 Collector, Francis Alÿs. Politics of Rehearsal 29-31 042-3 Mexico CIty Texture Prints. Author 045 Texture Plaster Casts. Author 047 Metal Plates TWBT Architects twbta.com 049 Cuentos Patrióticos, Francis Alÿs. Politics of Rehearsal 72-77 054-6 Mexico Wall Surface Study. Author 061/ WORKS

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063 I HAVE REACHED NO RESOLUTION I KNOW LESS NOW THAN WHEN I STARTED