The Last Blog

It's been almost 8 years since I last attended a theory course and things have changed so much. My initial feeling about critical thinking was that of apprehension due to my anxiety with academic reading. The thought of possibly reading hundreds of pages a week was as daunting as those topics were alien to me. Even the tone in the books felt to be Russian although they were written in English. I was really struggling at the beginning, having to find those texts on the web and read through them during lunch time or late at night after work. However, still carrying these thoughts and anxieties; I begin to engage with and understand the thoughts and ideas from the books and started to enjoy the reading. Most of the texts and discussions concentrate on socialist ideas which have given me insight into these values. Others elaborate on abstract theory in which leads into another world which had no connection to this very fragile and harsh reality of capitalism.

I have really found this module enlightening and thought provoking. The class was full of energy and passion.  It showed me the world we live in, the struggle between individualism and collectivism. It helped me understand the rise and fall of ideas and to see the meaning behind these texts in order to find the truth within. I feel that there will be thousands more texts to be read before I can grasp critical thinking. However, this course has provoked me to read and compare these ideas and theories, to find links between them and to be able to bring in different points on a particular or unfamiliar subject for more meaningful and well informed discussion.

The Fountainhead

It has been a long time since I watched any black and white movie (Metropolis being my last).I watched the Fountainhead and enjoyed it enormously, not only because like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis it has obvious architectural interest, but also because of the basic humanity that shone through Roark. Roark is an individualistic architect who is true to himself and his views without being corrupted by compromise, whilst others around him crumble to the pressure of 'the mob' in reference to the wider public.

This film begins with Roark being expelled from the school because he designed his projects in a way that had never been done before. The plot very soon involves him with a peculiarly philosophical girl, a power-mad newspaper publisher, a vicious critic and a weak, effete old friend. The final act comes when he deliberately blows up with dynamite a housing project, which he has designed but for which his old friend is taking the credit—a deed which he does because he's angry at some changes which are made in his project. And for this he is tried and acquitted on the strength of his own elaborate plea for the rights of the individual. At the end, he is doing fine and has the girl.

Roark, who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision, following his battle to practice what the public sees as modern architecture. He believes this to be superior, despite an establishment centred on tradition-worship.  Throughout the film the architect played by the character of Howard Roark was true to himself and his views without being corrupted by compromise, whilst others around him crumbled to the pressure of 'the mob' in reference to the wider public.
The complex relationships between Roark and the various kinds of individuals who assist or hinder his progress, (or both), allow the film to be at once a romantic drama and a philosophical work. Roark is Rand's embodiment of the human spirit, and his struggle represents the struggle between individualism and collectivism.

So, what has changed since Ayn Rand written The Fountainhead in 1949? Maybe nothing. The school will still question you and criticize you on your raw thinking when designing a project and ask you to design in reference to the built environment. There are times however that an architectural project does not need to confine in a built form but simply in pursuit of a theory. Instead of having the general public’s pressures to conform your design to popular standards, the planning authority centred on tradition-worship insists you to follow suit. Your own boss from your office would ask you to change your design based on economic ground even before the client or their Q.S. have commented. 
Roark and Francon would never survive in 1949, never mind  in 2014 where making compromise is a norm. Control and power is the game we all have to play and the general rule in everyday’s life is to manipulate.  But still, I want to meet Roark on top of the grand staircase like in the movie – This Objectivist mentality in me longing for the freedom advocating "the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievements as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." A man with integrity.

The production of Space by Henri Lefebvre

I found 'The production of space' by Henri Lefebvre difficult to follow due to his writing style (where he puts a lot of explanation within brackets to explain further) as well the subject being discussed. I had to go over his paragraphs time after time to get the grip of the concepts brought forward by Lefebvre, and then I began to find his ideas interesting and thought provoking.
Henri Lefebvre was a neo-Marxist and existentialist philosopher, a sociologist of urban and rural life and a theorist of the state, of international flows of capital and of social space. He was a witness to the modernization of everyday life, the industrialization of the economy and suburbanization of cities in France.

Lefebvre talks of social space itself as a national and 'planetary' expression of modes of production. From 'nature' and 'production' to 'works' and 'products'.  It is the relationships between these classifications that Lefebvre is predominantly interested in and how he defined the boundaries for each.  Rather than discussing a particular theory of social space, he examined struggles over the meaning of space and considered how relations across territories were given cultural meaning. He talks of nature as a work and not of a production, as it does not know that it is producing a product, such as fruit.  Lefebvre also talks about social space in relation to the micro scale of a garden to a whole sprawling city, such as Venice, and the complex relationships to the representation of social space, or the meaning of a Chinese characters and the thinking behind these forms and its deep cultural meaning which do not exist independently of its graphic representation.

As I go along his book, I am not saying I find myself agreeing with Lefebvre's concepts of social space but I am fascinated with his concepts of how he defines and blurs the boundaries of many different aspects,  such as where the boundaries of a 'work' and 'product' lie.  I think the following quote does a pretty good job in summing up his concepts:

And do you know what "the world" is to me? Shall I show it to you in my mirror? This world: a monster of energy, without beginning, without end; a firm, iron magnitude of force that does not grow bigger or smaller, that does not expend itself but only transforms itself; as a whole, of unalterable size, a household without expenses or losses, but likewise without increase or income; enclosed by "nothingness" as by a boundary; not something blurry or wasted, not something endlessly extended, but set in a definite space as a definite force, and not a space that might be "empty" here or there, but rather a force throughout, as a play of forces and waves of forces, at the same time one and many, increasing here and at the same time decreasing there [...]. Frederick Nietzsche, The Will to Power.

After theory Terry Eagleton

Chapter 1: Politics of Amnesia

• Age of cultural theory is gone, yet Eagleton thinks that the ideas of past great thinkers are still of immense value
• Although we are going towards a post-modern theoretical era, we cannot ‘forget’ the theories that have been discussed
• We are now living ‘in the aftermath of what one might call high theory’ – moving beyond insights of past thinkers (such as structuralism), moving beyond them and creating new ideas
• New thinking (sexuality, pleasure/fun, contemporary culture, narcissism, etc.)
• New generation forgetting or not realizing the political importance of previous theories (such as post-colonial studies, discourse of gender and sexuality, etc.)
• There are some who believe in ‘historicizing’ and believe that ‘anything that happened before 1980 is ancient history’, that is the amnesia
• The world as we know it is made of recent waves of ‘revolutionary nationalism’, happening since after WWII
• Post-colonial theory shifted focus from class/nation to ethnicity, which is a more cultural than political issue, and this shifted the focus from politics to culture
• Some post-moderns believe that group consensus is dictatorial and solidarity and brainless uniformity
• Feminism has transformed our culture and also the code of morality that exist today
• Rising sense of attacking the ‘normative’, and this postmodern prejudice against the norm and group consensus is “politically catastrophic”
• The traditional working class, which stood for political solidarity, is fading from view
• Postmodernism believes in a social order that is “as diverse and inclusive as possible”

'At Home in the Neon' from the compilation 'Air Guitar'

'At Home in the Neon' from the compilation 'Air Guitar'

Anyone who is all too familiar with packing and unpacking boxes as a result of yet another relocation will be familiar with David Hickey's elusive notion of home as merely being the roof under which one is currently sheltering under. After living in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Zurich- places well known for arts and culture, Hickey could be forgiven to find Las Vegas, his new residence, rather superficial, carnal and excessive given its notoriety for shopping, fine dining, night life, gambling and casino-hotels with their associated entertainment. Instead, Hickey lives up to his contrarian reputation by finally finding the comfort of home in the city billed as the Entertainment Capital of the World. The root of this newly found solace could be traced back to his childhood memories of the city. Hickey recounts when his dad and he would attend a music show of his dad's friend, Shelton, in Vegas during a time when anyone from outside town can find a job which is self-subsistent and free of societal judgement. With clarity steeped in sarcasm, Hickey explains the cynicism, contempt and condescension in attitude towards Vegas by highlighting the absence of vertical social hierarchy in which people can achieve differentiation in status in their life achievements. Such a lack of social recognition is a direct threat to one of the core tenets of Western Society which we are indoctrinated to believe: social class stratification as a result of meritocracy. In Vegas, money is money. People are indifferent and unconcerned with the means of its acquisition and do not attach any socially honourable value to money other for its quantitative merit. Whilst the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy earn from mere speculation and hedging of risks, in Vegas there are only 2 simple rules: post the odds and treat everyone the same. Just like one feels in his own home, with close friends or with family members,the absence of social differences and of pretension instils a feeling of acceptance, significance and dignity within every visitor. After all, home may not be merely where you hang your hat, but where the heart feels accepted for what it is.