"Hole-In-Space." 1980.
Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz.
The vast affordances granted by our modern digital technologies are unprecedented, seemingly omnipotent, and simultaneously destructive. The act of modernity and rapid, wide-scale globalization have caused a schism in our perceptions of space in relation to our surroundings . In a pre-modern civilization, one’s understanding of their immediate space was directly related to and shaped by their physical place, due to the lack of necessary development in both mobility and means of communication. Modern advancements have traversed this sensation, allowing for the creation of perceptions of “space” outside of one’s immediate “place.” This phenomenon creates a direct disembedding of social activity from the locality it exists within, opening the opportunity for both the abandonment of local influence and adoption of a “rationalized organization,” defined as collectives in which we are able to merge the local and the global. This contrast between our immediate perception of locality and our actual utilization of modern spatial extension, which has been relegated to virtual forums and message boards, builds an intangible, yet all-encompassing additional layer to our perception of space and how we exist within it.
This liminal definition of such a boundary existing between the local and the global (and additionally, the individual and the collective) provides a foundation for which a new understanding of contemporary society can stand upon. Many authors have both identified and developed their own understandings of such a condition, and additionally have made suitable inferences on how such an intangible occurrence pervades in our daily lives. American sociologist Benjamin Bratton acknowledges this condition while also expanding it to encapsulate various differing platforms of reality, all intersecting yet operating at their own scale, through his notion of "The Stack." While Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells posits the existence of an ever-present "space of flows," where all interactions of the human and digital reside within and relate to one another. Both authors recognize the role of the Interface in our interaction with and subjugation to these larger networks of contemporary society, highlighting technology's role as mediator between the human and their new world. This growing sense of connectedness and synchronicity amongst every physical and virtual institution is paradoxically structured by the individual and their agency, yet ultimately overpowers them. The human scale in a world defined by global intent and universal preoccupation is left stagnant, forced to preside in conjunction with forces that seek to further minimize our ability to produce meaningful change.
Playtime. 1967.
Directed by Jacque Tati.
Modern technological tools, both obvious and hidden, fill a unique role in regard to our dissatisfaction with our world. Contemporary devices are becoming smarter while simultaneously becoming less understandable in terms of function. That is to say, more archaic forms of technology, such as a hammer, directly infer a system of function which is built into the physical form of the object. We understand where to place our hand, how to grip the handle, and swing the object all based upon physical attributes of materiality, weight, and overall functional design. Modern-day examples are unable to be broken down and analyzed in such a process, because technology of the wireless, invisible networks can be utilized in such a myriad of functions, ranging from the shockingly mundane to the trivially important. Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben recognizes this phenomenon through his designation of the “apparatus,” quite literally “anything that has in some way the capacity to capture, orient, determine, intercept, model, control, or secure the gestures, behaviors, opinion, or discourses of living beings.” Such apparatuses inherently subjugate their user, creating an immediate and palpable distinction between their immediate surrounding and the Open. Instead of the immediate identification of affordance present in more straightforward technological tools, what modern digital technologies afford us are immense depth within an array of virtual realities. They allow for the creation of a separate existence and reality outside of our immediate physical realm, heightening our already-displaced sense of self within today's age.
It is then reasonable to state that contemporary subjectivity is insufficient in allowing us to recognize our own precarity within such a condition and results in a paradigm in which we are unable to act within that same space. The leveraging of technological control is so domineering and ever-present that we are unable to even identify how we are changed, regardless of our own perception of such influence. For how are we to move about a space if we are unable to understand its basic parameters? Because of this, such a condition for our world can be understood as an aesthetic problem, under the notions outlined by French philosopher Jacque Ranciére, who proposed the idea that the ability to perform within a space is directly tied to one’s own capacity to induce political performativity. Therefore, the capacity to create potentially disruptive and provocative social and political change has to be tied to the visual and stylistic implications of a given space. In a world where our means of interaction are built to shroud the hidden agenda beneath, it is ever more important that the common individual be able to not only recognize but respond to such conditions and be made aware of their realm of control. Such a philosophy towards design, instead of separating the tools of control from the oppressed, gives those same individuals the means of resurgence to create new understandings of their condition and expand their contemporary spatial perception. This would then result in an extension of subjective, human agency within our modern landscape.
Concept Art from Akira. 1988.
Directed by Katsuhiro Otomo.
Lastly, another tool that is useful for the redefinition of human subjectivity within our built environments is the concept of the sublime. Drawing from its origin in the romantic, the sublime began with identifying the impact of natural beauty onto human emotion. Often, sublimity is presented to us through the means of pure scale, the human form being minimized by the awe-inspiring vastness of some occurrence. In regard to Immanuel Kant’s discussions on the sublime, it holds the potential to not only amass collective feelings of astonishment but simultaneously terror. It is through this dual function that we are made aware of such feelings of sublimity when in relation to an object of immense, almost-inconceivable scale. An example of this phenomenon can be seen in our contemporary understandings of our planet within the infinite void of the cosmos. Just as we are made aware of our incapability to fully understand the potential boundaries of our universe, so too are we made aware of our insignificance within such a dynamic. This pure sense of subjectivity and the ability to conflate our own state of being in relation to our experience is what powers the sublime to be both observed and felt. Through this lens, the sublime can be utilized in order to draw attention to our modern technological subjugation while also utilizing the same tools present in such governance.
Therefore, this thesis, in order to re-calibrate contemporary individuals to the intangible forces that entrap them, will attempt to demonstrate new forms of technological sublimity to create new understandings of aesthetic influence, and a re-discovery of personal agency both within the metaphysical and the built environment.