Discussion 10: U.S.A John Dos Passos

As one dips in and out of this book, they read insightful biographies of the lives of famous individuals from the early 21st century, from the rich to the poor, the business man to the worker. The many underlying themes of the book tell it like it is; the underlying tragedy of success and how drink destroys the great and the small alike and how everyone takes advantage of the working man. These mini biographies underlie the truth of the struggle to get to success as well as the struggle after, from the thought that there is no good or evil, hero’s or villains but just people. The fictional style is simplistic as you will find quite a powerful story is told. People are only human after all and to get the good out of life we must open ourselves up to the bad. We all as individuals have some form of tragedy in our lives, its how we deal with it that make us strong. The only down whirl of success is where is the happiness at the end of a long haul to get there. It would seem from dipping into this book that even though people get the success they wanted they are still not happy, take Henry Ford’s story as an example. He helped create a world of automobiles but as his life went on he changed his opinion on the automobiles and hide away from it all. If there is no light at the end of the tunnel what is there to drive us to success as surely it’s the greener pastures on the other side that get us through our day on the road to our success.

Discussion 9: The Fountainhead (Film)

Howard Roark should stand as an inspiration to all architects struggling with the traditional believes of people and society. Roark is an individualistic young architect who chooses to struggle in darkness rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision, resulting in his battle against society to practice modern architecture.

Architecture today is still seen through society’s eyes and is criticized. Although society seem to be more open minded to modern and new technology, the struggle of the architect still remains in the underlying knowledge of the technology at their disposal. The struggle begins from day one of being an architecture student as we must learn to take the criticism of our work and let it make us stronger. Believe me sometimes it is a struggle to stay a float but it is important that we as students stay above the water and voice our opinion, because after all we are the next generation of architects and it is important that we hold our own individualism as Roark did and not to follow the system as robots. Roark is an example to all as he is the embodiment of the human spirit and his struggle represents the triumph of individualism over collectivism.

Roark would not compromise his goals despite enormous pressures to do so. He believed that there is only black and white in moral issues; there is no gray. Therefore, giving in a little is not compromise but rather, selling out your values and giving in to evil. Roark was not a man to sell out, he had the courage of his convictions. His courage should be an inspiration to always voice your opinion even if it opposes the way of the present society.

Discussion 8: All that is Solid melts into Air

Faust; the modern hero’s tragedy halts ‘precisely from his desire to eliminate tragedy’ his desire to create a safe new world ‘in which the look and feel of the old world have disappeared without a trace.’ Faust can be looked upon as the spiritual father of modernity grand visions and infinite hope as he becomes intertwined with a relationship embedded with fascination and alienation. The more one reads the more one understands his personal drives with economic, political and social forces that drive a connection between the solidity and warmth of life with people with the matrix of a concrete community. Goethe's Faust expressed the 'modern world-system coming into being' cut off from a world defined and bounded by tradition, religion, and superstition, Faust experienced overpowering calmness.

In this interesting book, Marshall Berman examines the conflict of classes, histories, and cultures, and contemplates our scenario for coming to terms with the relationship between a valuable social and theoretical idealism and a complex, overbearing materialism. Through reading the chapter on Faust I gathered an understanding about modernity, why certain anti-modern societies resist modernization. That understanding is that no tradition, which inherently protects the monarchy of privilege, can be maintained in the face of the attack of the profit-driven motive underlying capitalism, which will always seek out new markets to exploit, such as the unexploited market as protected by tradition.

Faust shares in common with the rest of humankind a desire to know as much as possible about the material and spiritual worlds. When pursuing such knowledge, does a person ever encounter boundaries that he or she must not cross, are there ethical and moral considerations that limit the scope of a person's quest for knowledge?

Discussion 7: Decline and Fall

‘Professor Silenus, known only for the “rejected design for a chewing-gum factory”, declares against man: “The only perfect building must be the factory, because that is built to house machines, not men […] All ill comes from man”. Silenus sympathizes with factories and machines rather than humans, and he advocates a mechanized modernity that threatens humanity.’

‘Decline and Fall suggests that repression of personal, cultural, and religious liberty is laudable.’

‘Decline and Fall is not a book of “faithless optimism, confident and aggressive”, but rather a carnivalesque dirge for the “restraint of traditional culture”.’

It would appear that this piece of writing is embedded with a social structure that is simply old fashioned where people are trying to adapt to a new world where society is knocking down their country houses to built modern building that are ‘Clean and Square.’ The downfall to taking their step to modernity as the machine would have it, is the fear of pieces of heritage being lost. This process is based on the whole idea of the modernity machine deeply in homed with humanity as architecture will always change and shape what the generation requires at the time.

Le Corbusier interest lay in humanity set opposed to something called nature and he was trying to drag it back. With this in mind Le Corbusier obsession with maths, correctness, organisation and technology offered him the equipment to rebuild his interests. As the machine has progressed and technology had greatened I believe this tool is now at our disposal. With the technologies of today and the attitudes of our past one could do perhaps anything. I enjoyed this discussion as I believe vernacular architecture holds a great significance in the world we live in today. It would appear to me that modernity is even taking a step to the vernacular in the next step of its methodology to greater its technology. The secret to the next step is to understand the history of architecture on a timeline and the history of humanity to a greater standard.

Discussion 6: Howl by Allen Ginsberg

This poem’ has come to represent an enduring counterculture, a set of young rebels – the Beats, and then their successors – who dress oddly, speak their own argot and hold straight, square and old bourgeois ways in fiery contempt…. And yet to look hard at the poem itself is to see a paradox. ’ - Stephen Burt - The Paradox of Howl

In my opinion even though the poem declares the forthcoming of a new culture and the end to the old habits of the past, Ginsberg has deeply intertwined the writing with the past. It’s as though he is fighting the machine. Ginsberg releases a continuous flow of thoughts, feelings, and impressions that has got me thinking about the world we are living in today. Perhaps we are all stuck in a matrix being controlled by what the machine does. Everything we do today is around the machine, even a simple visit to the super market or to the doctor. The machine is telling us what we should be eating and not, as well as the doctor telling us we’ve had too many units or aren’t eating healthy. Well I eat as much junk food as I please and drink when I want and I’m healthy so perhaps the machine is wrong.

As the poem talks about the coming of this new culture, where the machine controls all, we looked at Archigram in relation as they were obsession in the institute of state – machinery. Their approach was futurist, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist; they draw their inspiration from the technology in order to create a new reality that was expressed through hypothetical projects. It is quite scary as one looks around us as the world we are living in is becoming more and more like the archigram design. Everything we do is almost through a social network of the computer. As we are advancing more in technology we seem to be feeding the machine and advancing its control. Ginsberg and Archigram work predicted the forthcoming of this machine, which I feel as lead me to read and appreciate their work without the context of the time through the social and racial unrest. I feel their work at the time was futurist but as we stand today, its reality.
Who’s ready to fight the machine?

Discussion 5 - Las Vegas by Tom Wolfe

Wolfe’s article gives a straightforward introduction to the signal figures of the early 60’s in Vegas from the show girls to the gamblers. He looks at the emergence of intriguing art forms & styles of life from the bright fluorescent lights of the signs to the underlying architectural symbol of them that have nothing to do with the ‘elite’ culture of the past. We see through Wolfe’s eye the new world’s most stupendous manifestation of the back-lit plastic city of Las Vegas. Wolfe’s style is all go & wow and breathy expectancy and he makes his crazy mannerisms look easy. His work is hypnotic allowing his readers follow on into a world of bright, shiny verbal imagery.

Wolfe sets Vegas out as the city it is, ‘a city that never sleeps’ from the gambling to entertainment, from art to drugs. The image portrayed in ones mind is a place of insomnia where people almost go insane with the 24/7 life style of Vegas from the noise of the craps table to the slot machines ringing. More than 3-4 days here would possible not be healthy for one sanity. However in Dave Hickey ‘Air Guitar’, he underlines the very place as home. He states that many would not feel at home here at first yet when they touch the essence of Vegas it could possible become home more than any the other place in the world. He sets Vegas as a place where anything can happen. He believes Las Vegas is the most honest place in America where one can evoke Art. Is this true? Perhaps it is as in the slight moment of the rolling dices one holds the anxiety and hope of anything is possible.

Discussion 4: Social Space; ‘The Production of Space’ by ‘Henri Lefebvre’

Lefebvre idea of social space seems to be embedded with the concept of Marxism. I must be honest and admit when I first read this text I was baffled and a little confused about what Lefebvre was trying to say. In order to get some idea of what Lefebvre was trying to say I had to look at Marxism to get an understanding of where his idea of production of space is coming from. So here it goes, my interpretation of he’s writing...

Space is based on society which is based on production; therefore would space not be a product? Lefebvre analyzes space through form, structure and function of something he calls ‘social space’ and explores how such spaces have been produced. It would appear that his idea of social space consists of a certain configuration of actual space in actual time. Space takes in physical objects that take part in discourse and therefore become a container of relationships of the society of its people. Does space produce society at the same time of producing space? Lefebvre believes that as a space is produced so is a society. He sets out in his writing the different kinds of social space and the modes of their production into a theory. He believes that social space is produced by power to serve a goal. I believe this could be true in many cases as a space is a product of design around what the people want and what people want usually reflects on the society in which they live.