sardine -- 9/11 -- the absent center

“The postmodern would be that which, in the modern, puts forward the unpresentable in presentation itself; that which denies itself the solace of good forms, the consensus of a taste which would make it possible to share collectively the nostalgia for the unattainable; that which searches for new presentations, not in order to enjoy them but in order to impart a stronger sense of the unpresentable” (Lyotard, 46).

The post-modern architectural absent center is the disquieting “unpresentable in presentation.” It is honest about the modern, global capitalistic, human situation. We need meaning; however, nothing is “adequate” as Jencks would say. We want the absent centers filled. We want to be saved. We want that store bought, fancy designer, patriotic, religious identity. We want the faith of something more.

It is alluring to fill in the void. I’m like everyone. I succumb to the temptation for the mass produced and the misinformation. It is a clutter that plugs, numbs, and entombs.

I rebel. I say no to my kids about the latest awful breakfast cereal. I say no to the ad on television selling the most postmodern toilet paper. I say no to the feel good sell of “we’re a big happy family” at work. I say no to the televangelist screeching, “Believe!” I say no to the political agendas shrieking, “American!”

I fail. Yesterday, I took my kids to Disney. The tickets were a gift. But I took them up. And I bought those light-up things they sell prior to the fireworks. One had three preprogrammed light-up phrases: “Let’s party!" & "Happy New Year!” & “Help!”

I want answers. I want to be saved. Yet… I don’t want to find myself singing dazedly, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles….” I am a hypocrite in a culture of hypocrisy. I gaze with dread and longing at the absent center.