brian carroll on 31 Dec 2000 08:43:00 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] the aesthetics of de|con-struction |
< e x h i b i t > T H E A E S T H E T I C S O F D E C O N S T R U C T I O N : photographic gallery of architectural construction and demolition sites http://www.architexturez.com/decon * latest CSS browsers required < t e x t > deconstruction is herein used as a generic non-proprietary keyword to describe the pragmatic utility of theoretical (theory- rhetorical) ideas and ideologies. nothing can be said in terms of reason nor logic to further clarify, and importantly, simplify the concepts based upon language of which deconstruction represents. other than that deconstruction, as a word, can be seen to be of both 'construction' and 'destruction' in its structure, that is: de-con-struction de- struction con-struction the symbolic enhancement of the word, in its structural formalism, can be re- presented as: de|con-struction wherein the pipe `|' symbol represents a logical dividing line, and the hypen `-' represents a continuity between the infrastructural fragments of the word. therefore, de|con-struction, with logic and reason aided by visual symbols, can be seen as a questioning and answering. the sublime language in which deconstruction is used, as a keyword, is passively reflected in its application of the language of signs, and not as a vivid interrogation of language as a symbolic logic of these message signals. one example is in the realm of identity, in which the language inherited by most English readers/writers is fused with a perspective which is inherently privatized. this is best exemplified in gender, where the basis for public and private identity, and thus language, are grounded. it is more than coincidence that the deconstruction of the individual is still defined by gender today. he man male mankind she woman female womankind s|he wo|man fe|male wo|man-kind a symbolic structural language transcending gender as identity need include both gender and its annihilation in the construction and the destruction of individual identity. the impossibility of this is evident in the concept of humanity, as it is based on the identity of man, and yet it conceptually represents, moreso than its literal signal, a communality of identity and a basis for equality. therefore, the human identity is not to be based only on history nor her-story but on `the human story' of i, you, me, and we as human beings. the division of public and private identities then become easier to decipher. for example, speaking as wo|men, (men-or- women, or men-and-women) we will never be able to achieve a common human identity of equality as there is a choice for differentiating being. the philosophical example of this conundrum is the hermaphrodite as the identity which can transcend this trap, where man becomes woman and woman becomes man, sexually and conceptually. the hermaphrodite is the basis for an inclusive human being, a both-and either-or identity which at once negates and affirms constitutions and constructions of identity based on gender. this is because the hermaphrodite is literally a symbolic wo|man, whose logic deconstructs the signs of traditional Western identity. all human beings are hermaphroditic in the sense that to find community in the differences that divide us privately, we need to find commonality or continuity in those things that bind us together as one people, a unique and wide-ranging being that we share as a public beyond our individual selves. how else can `we' speak of 'our' future, or of working together as equals, than to speak in human terms? to do this does not require deconstructing texts, in as much as concepts and structures which pre- dispose action through traditional channels, be they institutional or relational. one way to do this is through aesthetics, the design not only of things but ideas, visions, and the symbolism they collectively carry in the cultural sub-, un-, & supra-conscious. architecture is a way of seeing this symbolism of deconstruction literalized in the aesthetics of physical, buildings in-formation. architecture is no different from words and language in that it has a structural relationship between fragments of ideas, as it both creates and destroys itself in order to exist. yet the paradox is denied, and the 'finished' building, much like the 'finished' text, are professionalized, aestheticized, and stylized as ideological constructions, building upon the inherited institutional reality, no longer challenging nor changing it. while there may be meaning in the symbolism, it remains mostly privatized and proprietary, guarding its source code to increase its rarity and value in the closed systems in which it functions. thus, the school of thought as a continuation of stable signs legitimately deconstructed to maintain the status quo continue the legacy of the `intellectual' corporate enterprise as private endeavor. to see architecture de|con-structed requires seeing architecture in between its various stages of becoming some-thing and no-thing. thus, to literally `see' the destruction and construction of the built environment, much like the hermaphrodite, we can see the common, public aesthetic which we inherited and from whose language we build. these are the laws of physics matched with lawless imagination. to see a building being destroyed, to see a construction sign, to see a stack of materials in the process of demolition and construction, is to see architecture as a de|con-struction. the crane, the scaffolding, the tools, the earth, rocks, metals, and concrete, most all are relatively ancient events being ever re-enacted in the processing of architecture. the construction site, in its varying stages, could be seen much the same 2000 years ago, in these same designed assemblages. aesthetic reflection and projection allow the architectural object to be matched by its empirical relation to material culture, and its ancient precedent. the construction sign, as symbolic warning of a zone of a culture's de|con-struction, is a universal visual language, transcending that of words. a construction site on any continent can be deciphered without spoken language. dirt is dirt. cranes are cranes. architectural signs are signs, not only as finished objects, but also as never-finished objects, eternally in- process, always falling apart, in need of repair, or of dismantling. the pragmatism of de|con-struction as everyday theory is seen in workers whom strip buildings of their valuable goods before they are to be demolished. they salvage what is left and use it to build something else. not as a pure object or entity, but as a collection of borrowed and re-structuralized fragments. these carpenters and citizens call themselves `deconstructionists'. seeing the Venetian _primitive hut_ scaffolding along with the _purgatory_ and _archetype_ events of Paris brings the local aesthetic of construction and demolition into a new and more universalized sense of a common architectural language, and thus being. while words continue to bore and drag on without saying, relying upon a fuzzy logic of finished surfaces and statements, it is proposed that the unfinished image simplifies and clarifies what words cannot. that there is a universality, a shared public, it is physical, it exists within a shared material culture, technological, both new and ancient, which is always in a state of de|con-structing itself. in this state, before it is a finished product, it is still possible to rearrange the structure so as to support- not the individual and privatized difference alone- but also the civic commonality we share as human beings. architecture is but one way of seeing it and de|con-struction is but one way of saying it. but there is something in their combination, when the application of theoretical language becomes a pragmatic common sense, immediately available with those with eyes and minds looking into the future while remembering the past. < / t e x t >< / e x h i b i t> bc =========================================================== s i t e : new online portfolio-- www.architexturez.com/site /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold