AS 8/29

Off-balance after what Dr. Rog indicated was an “easy” reading assignment, I was hoping for enlightenment, reassurance, or a drink. Enlightenment was a no show and the Guinness had to wait until after class. Reassurance came in an unexpected package – the class itself.

Class was eye-opening – it was a study of postmodernity concepts: deconstruction (the orderly rows of chairs ruptured), presence in the absence (the empty center of the room where our thoughts/opinions/wails of frustration mingled), and intertextuality (ping-ponging perspectives enriching discussion/understanding). I feared that this class would be an exercise in cynicism where we sat around swelled with importance over the realization that meaning is dead. There is some self-importance, but more, there is an eagerness to discuss, debate, to stumble along and help each other over understanding’s rocky path. Words have no inherent value by themselves; their meaning is found in the company they keep. So it is with postmodernity. Meaning is infinitely unstable, but meaning does exist. We create that meaning with each other. Communal ideology saves us from the inertia of chaos.

I am fascinated by the concept of silence. People are silent so rarely, but I find that silences often tell much more than a profusion of utterances. Absent space in architecture parallels both silence in speech and shadows in texts. I wanted to weep with gratitude over the architecture slides because finally, oh thank you, finally there was a concrete example of theory. There were seconds of silence just to look and wonder about what wasn’t shown, how all these buildings fit or clashed with the landscapes around them. I was most intrigued by the buildings that incorporated absence. There is something still and poignant and powerful about emptiness. I’ll be looking forward to seeing what’s not there when we go on our tour of downtown.

Other than that, the cube apartments looked like a robotic praying mantis and freaked me out.