Re: authentic space

Authentic space. Interesting idea, and I like the
sound of the words, but I am having trouble
undertstanding exactly what we are talking about.

Spaces true to their historical context? Perhaps that
just means spaces that have failed to keep up with the
times. There is a barber shop near where I live that
was built in the 1940s, I would guess. I've never been
in it, but from the street it looks like a movie
set--the old-fashioned leather chairs, enamel sinks,
the hand lettering on the window glass. Is this an
authentic space? I think you could argue either way
equally convincingly. Authentic because unchanged and
therefore, in a sense, true to its times, but at the
same time an anachronism and not authentic because its
"times" no longer exist, not authentic because it is
clearly out of synch with the only times we in fact
have, these times.

Is it suited to pinhole because we tend to romanticize
the simple and elemental qualities of the process and
connect them with nostalgia for times past? The most
vulgar expression of this may be those sepia photos
you can get dressed up in "old West" clothes.

I also remember once standing in front of an innocuous
government building in Tokyo built in the Victorian
style. I suddenly noticed a plaque noting that it had
been the Japanese Army's general headquarters during
the war. Suddenly I wanted the place to feel evil. No
matter how hard I tried, though, it was just an old
building. It was not responsible for the actions
planned in it. I decided then that places have no
memory. I've had the feeling looking at battlefield
sites that were empty fields.

Makes me wonder if space can objectively be called
authentic or inauthentic at all. I doubt it, somehow.
It seems to me more a matter of whether the space
resonates at the same frequency we happen to be
vibrating at as we gaze at it or as we think about it.

Just some thoughts on the subject as I sit here
avoiding work I should be doing...

I, too, would be interested to hear what other people
think. Especially interested in why people think
authentic space, if there is such a thing, is a
pinhole kind of thing.

Colin

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Received on Mon Oct 28 14:48:05 2002