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The Problem of (Re)Creating

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The Problem of (Re)Creating JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM ISSN 2029-7955 print / ISSN 2029-7947 online 2012 Volume 36(1): 73–81 doi:10.3846/20297955.2012.679789 THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE – THE PROBLEM OF (RE)CREATING Jūratė Markevičienė Vilnius Academy of Fine Arts, Maironio g. 6, 01124 Vilnius, Lithuania E­mail: [email protected] Submitted 5 December 2011; accepted 8 February 2012 Abstract. The presented research focuses on sociocultural ability to (re)create spirit of a heritage site. The author defines a human habitat as a socio-cultural rhizome, and genius loci – as an intangible quality of a material site, perceived both physically and spiri- tually. Genius loci sites are identified as physical realities, and as mediators and media of societal interactions at the same time; they possess a distinguishable set of fundamental framework attributes: integrity, complementarity, continuity, a touch of eternity, non- evidence, being both a reality and an entity, and rhizomatousness. From this theoretical perspective the author defines conservation as an arboric, and sustenance of continuity – as a rhizomatic phenomenon, and makes a comparative identification of basic attributes, qualities, objectives, activities, and outcomes of the both systemic phenomena. The research resulted in two basic conclusions. First, that – though, due to on-going cultural shift in interactions with history, reconstructions gain in popularity – genius loci sites cannot be created or re-created intentionally, because they are happenings, and not creations. Second, that heritage conservation cannot substitute sustenance of traditional habitats, however, nowadays it plays an irreplaceable crucial role in safeguarding of tangible heritage, and this way becomes a cradle for emerging future cultural traditions. Keywords: arboric, continuity, Deleuze, genius loci, habitat, heritage conservation, heritage site, local communities, outstanding uni- versal value, perception, preservation, reconstruction, rhizomatic, space and place, spirit of the place, sustainability and sustenance. Introduction The research presented in this article aims at iden- Notions of space and place are as old as human- tifying those concepts on space and place, which might kind’s mythological and religious creation stories. serve preservation of heritage sites, in defining the ba- Theories of Plato and Aristotle were at the beginnings of sic paradigmatic approaches for sustaining a genius a permanent Western philosophical discourse on spa- loci phenomenon, and in determining possibilities to ce, place and local spirits that continued in medieval intentionally (re)create this phenomenon. and Renaissance speculations about space, in modern There is practically no literature on the research spatial conceptions of Newton, Descartes, Leibniz, and topic yet, though, paradoxically, an issue of the spirit Kant, in the 20-century phenomenological approaches of the place is at the cutting edge of actual heritage of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Bachelard, and Heidegger, as discourse on landscape and build environment, the well as in new scientific physical theories. The postmo- intangible and tangible heritage, and the authenticity. dern philosophic thought, such as theories of Foucault, On the other hand, genius loci is not an autonomous Derrida, Tschumi, Deleuze and Guattari, and Irigaray, phenomenon, but rather a derivative from a physical introduced new perspectives to the vibrant discourse on environment, as it appears and is interpreted in percep- these worldview related ideas.1 Behavioural and related tions and reflections; the latter may be or may not be social sciences focus the discourse on individual and distinguished from its real nature as a thing-in-itself. Consequently, any insights into the genius loci result 1 A comprehensive in-depth analysis of space and place concepts from fundamental founding concepts on space and through ages is presented by Edward S. Casey in his The Fate place, in which these insights are inevitably rooted. of Place: A Philosophical History, Berkeley / LA / London: Uni- versity of California Press, 1998. Copyright © 2012 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press Technika 73 http://www.tandfonline.com/ttpa 74 J. Markevičienė. The spirit of the place – the problem of (re)creating social perceptions of and interactions with space and some of its notions also are specifically theorised. It place, and on their origins either in physicality, or in does not suggest any common concept. Multiplicity of mentality and spirituality. In human geography con- theoretical literature in human geography, philosop- cepts of places span between two paradigms: of physical hy, theology, cultural anthropology, etc. presents wide (geomorphological) structures, as defined by physical scope of notions that span from physical substantiality geography, and of entirely social constructs. On the lat- of a place and its sense-based perceptions to spiritual ter side, Doreen Massey rejects essentiality of a place experiences and intangible interactions, emphasising and defines them as a product of sensing and percei- relationships between spatial processes and social pro- ving2. The former mainstream emphasizes physicality of cesses. One of the basic nodes suggests genius loci being places, defining them as tangible entities that have dis- an attribute of human beliefs or historic memories, rela- tinct (and identifiable) physical character. These notions ting it with the presence of God, or ‘of those who are not are best expressed by a classic and widely quoted Carl O. physically there’. Bell states that: ‘What I am describing Sauer’s definition of a cultural landscape: ‘The cultural is, I believe, a common feature of the human experience landscape is fashioned from a natural landscape by a of place, for both modern and traditional peoples. The cultural group. Culture is the agent, the natural area is point of this essay is to argue that ghosts – that is, the the medium, the cultural landscape is the result’. David sense of the presence of those who are not physically Ross Stoddart expressed this environmental tradition there – are a ubiquitous aspect of the phenomenology in his reflections on the landmark publication ‘Man’s of place. Although the cultural language of modernity Role in Changing the Face of the Earth’3: ‘Reading it you usually prevents us from speaking about their presence, feel the dust in your eyes, the sand between your toes, we constitute a place in large measure by the ghosts the salt spray on your face. It is a palpable, tangible, real we sense inhabit and possess it. The meaning of a pla- world, peopled by the real men and women who have ce, its genius loci, depends upon the geniuses we locate transformed it’.4 Humanities – mainly culture studies, there. /.../ Ghosts of the living and dead alike, of both heritage studies, and history – generate a major node individual and collective spirits, of both other selves of space and place concepts that deal with phenome- and our own selves, haunt the places of our lives. Places na of cultural and historic memory and remembrance, are, in a word, personed – even when there is no one cultural identity and continuity, and relevantly with there’.5 In architecturology, Christian Norberg-Schulz symbolic environments. The 70-s and 80-s of the past and many others associate a site’s genius loci with its century triggered holistic insights arising from system character as an integral part of the house as a dwelling, a theories, especially of living systems and self-organi- home; social philosophy and sociology studies of home- zation; ecologic philosophy; cognitive sciences, etc., as lessness, no-place, nomadism, etc., also emphasize this well as multi- and cross-disciplinary theoretical appro- notion. In architecture, mainly landscape architectu- aches. These trends have their starting point in Yi-Fu re, a genius loci idea has been triggered by the idea of Tuan’s theory of topophilia, theoretical foundations in Beauty, reflected as Harmony with Nature. The ‘starting philosophy of deep ecology, esp. by Arne Næss (Næss point’ usually is attributed to 18th-century English poet 2005), and in numerous studies on social exclusion, Alexander Pope’s Epistle to Burlington regarding good displacement, homelessness, such as Kai T. Erikson’s landscaping: ‘Consult the Genius of the Place in all; That studies of the trauma of loss of place, etc. tells the Waters or to rise, or fall, Or helps th’ ambitious A specific discourse on the Genius Loci phenome- Hill the heav’n to scale, Or scoops in circling theatres non is deeply rooted in and cannot be isolated from the Vale, Calls in the Country, catches opening glades, mainstream discourses on space and place, though Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades, Now breaks or now directs th’ intending Lines; Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs’. According to 2 ‘Instead then, of thinking of places as areas with bounda- ecologic philosophy, especially deep ecology, this phe- ries around, they can be imagined as articulated moments in networks of social relations and understandings, but where a nomenon arises from the physical world, and represents large proportion of those relations, experiences and understan- symbiosis between a human being and the Nature; this dings are constructed on a far larger scale than what we happen is based on the idea on self-realization by self-identifi- to define for that moment as the place itself, whether that be a street, or a region or even a continent’ (Massey, D. 1991. A Global cation with the Earth (re­earthing). Sense of Place, Space, Place and Gender, 154). Contemporary heritage conservation philosophy is 3 Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, 1956. Edited rather dichotomic as regards concepts of place. This de- by William L. Thomas, Jr. Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research: University of Chicago Press. rives from the very nature of the discipline. On the one 4 Stoddart, D. R. 1987. To claim the high ground: geography for the end of the century, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 12(3): 330. Quoted in: Stephen Daniels, 1992.
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