Making place

How do you "make a place"?
There are four elements that makes up the world we live in called the Four Folds, consistig of the earth, the sky, people and the divine (or the transcendent). To make a place or dwelling is a process of taming the elements of the fold and shaping them into forms of domesticity. One example os the mud house in USA which is made from mudbrick, the earth element, processed by the sun, baked with natural heat only and no external heating device. Not only that, but once the dwelling disinegrates it becomes dirt, turn to dust meaning a return to its progonal earth form. The architecture is if not itself part of constructed or deformed version of the four folds it is a reflection of the surrounding asset.
The film Pawaqqatsi to me is an exploration of the four folds. It really shows the coexistence of the different elements, working together in a particular context. The ethnic group of men carrying sack of dirt, which is earth extracted from a bigger portion of earth, over a landscape of the earth, its horizon defining the edges of the sky. The ethnic is, I assume, transporting these small portions of earth for purposes of domesticity, supporting theirway of life. So it's a clear and swift integration of the four folds, people, sky, earth and the divine.

Erotics of experience

By dictionary definition erotics means 'something of, relating to, or tending to arouse sexual desire or excitement'. However, by theoretical approach it is slightly different, it is not in sexual terms but is the excitement or even something beyond, in our experience. Nevertheless, the erotics pertains to the theories of semiotics, phenomenology, aesthetics and hyperreality that we have learnt in our previous classes. It is said that erotics is 'the not the excess of pleasure but the pleasure of excess'. It is the delight in perceiving something that is overwhelming, infinite, to the point of intimidation or horror. It is the "sublime", the wow sensation, a satisfaction so much that you could die.

The film 'Fight Club' is an example of erotics in theoretical claims. It is a story of a guy who's bored of his own life so much that he faked at being cancer to join cancer consultations intending to experience true feelings of the near-death or the sublime. It was experience received second-handedly until he was involved in fight club, a club that people literally come to fight. They really get hurt and really get an adrenalin rush at the hint of almost dying. The film's catch phrase was "if you haven't fight, you haven't lived". The aesthetics of fight club was that no one else knows about fight club, people are attracted by this ambiguity. The rules of fight club is 'Do not talk about fight club'. It implies that the club only exist between the few members, a perception that they are breaking away from the aesthetics of normal people (outside of fight club), that they are different, so the main character had achieved his will in living a more exciting life. But eventually, fight club grew and the increase in its members caused it to lose its 'aesthetics' in being unique. To break away from the norm again, fight club started picking fight with other people instead. Thus, they have gone further in the 'sublime', an even more dangerous activity, at the verge of fatality.

From this example we can see clearly that erotics, as a theory of experience, is a mix of studies and understandings of different theories of perception.

Aesthetics and Ideology

When we talk about aesthetics we would normally think of it as something that is very flexible, malleable and that no two persons would have the same aesthetic preferences. However, from the study of the aesthetics I had to redefine my meaning of aesthetics. Aesthetics, in many ways, is very subjective but it if something that is constructed.

Aesthetics by dictionary meaning is a' set of principles governing the idea of beauty at a given time and place'.

The use of the words 'principles' and 'governing' implies a sense of control, meaning that the idea of aesthetics is forced or developed with certain boundaries or is unconsciously restricted. And the specification of 'time' and 'place' means that particular variables are involved in one's decision of what's beautiful and what's not, and is somewhat very political.

In the past, aesthetics might be generated in coercion but in the present days we live in hegemony, we are free of choice and are open to give ideas. But to say that it is completely personal isn't true. Humans are a race that lives in a pack, if you're the odd one out then you risk being kicked out. This causes the emergence of trends, generated by major group of people with similar aesthetic perceptions. This creates a standardized set of perceptions on beauty or ideology. The minor group then has follow that trend, because people are manipulated to think that the ideal is the better.

Designers also use this to an advantage and design according to trends. According to the Kritik of Judgement (1790), designs are preconditioned by what's going to sell (the ideal). This means there are only a number of types of products manufactured, restricting visions of aesthetic qualities and decreasing diversity in perceptions. A lot of trend setters are people who are commonly known. This also pertains to architectural influences, like Mies van der Rohe and his modern aesthetics that is also known as The International Style, suggesting it is a style that is accepted internationally. At the time, it was 'the' style and many modern buildings rose, overshadowing Frank Lloyd Wright, a genius we respect today, but was the black sheep of that era.

Playing with Architecture

Meaning is contingent. As well as our perception of things, it is impermanent. There is nothing that can actually be identified as 'forever'. Something that is sacred now, might become mundane tomorrow or in the next hundred years. These instances occurs a lot in art and architectural fields where artists and designers are always finding ways to surprise their audiences. Andy Warhol is one example of someone playing with this contingency with "profanity". His famous work, such as the Marilyn Monroe Pop Art was a sensation bringing someone who was a national star onto an ordinary canvas and exhibiting it so everyone, anyone, can have access to this celebrity. You will also have seen many of his works displaying very basic, mundane, and ordinary objects that you witness everyday. But because Warhol had established them as artworks it costs a lot more than what the real object sample originally cost and became a phenomenon with countless number of people crowded to have a look at a painting of what can be seen in the supermarket closest to your home, like campbell food cans. Another example is Jeff Koons' vacuum cleaners, again very banal objects placed inside a glass box, named a piece of art and the price of the vacuum cleaner rose to over ten million dollars. It is a sort of mockery in bringing people to pay attention on something that can even be seen in their houses or that they might use everyday. Both artists play with the meaning and perception of these common objects by embracing the absurdity of contemporary material art.

Profanity is even a more provocative issue in architecture, because of the cultural or religious values that a place or building possess, signs that evokes certain connections for people of that local area, for example a Wat or temple is a sign of sacredness for most Thais and Buddhists. Therefore, it is difficult to play with architecture without being offensive. A resort in Chiangmai that was designed and constructed with temple features and forms had raise an issue of appropriateness. Architecture can be 'played' with over its functions and meaning that exists over time. Most cases architects establish an unexpected or contradictory choice of design. The new Milstein Hall in Cornell has a contradictory function shift by putting the dome beneath its cantilevering structure. It is both a contrast and a blending of the new and old buildings. Dome is an architectural element placed at the highest point of the architecture it dwells on and is a visual prominence, that usually house sacred cultural and religious acts in the past, from Romans to Christians and the Byzantine period. Though situated underground and is understated than its usual signage quality, the dome is a sacred open space for critiques.