Erotic

As you hear the word “eroticism”, you would probably think of something relates to sexuality. Many people might think of book or movie. Eroticism in architecture is different from eroticism in literature or movie. However, there is one thing in common about the erotic, which is the impact on us. Architecture concept means nothing. Interpretation means nothing to architecture. Though, what really matters is the experience that people would feel inside. Touching, seeing, hearing and smelling and tasting are the senses that people would perceive. To perceive those senses differently from what we could perceive in daily life creates eroticism.

From the movie Fight Club, the main character decided to join fight club just to feel something different from his daily life. Once he joined fight club he get to feel something new, something different and experiencing something unpredictable. As time passes, that newness become old comparable to watching a movie. The first time you watch it, it is a surprise. Because we know nothing of what is going to happen next. However, if we comeback and watch it again and again. You know what is going to happen next in the movie. The same cycle happens with Brad Pitt in the movie. When he first join fight club, everything is exciting. Later, things are the same and the fight club experience becomes routine like replaying movie over and over. So he decided to fight outside of the fight club to get something exciting and unpredictable.

The senses that we perceive could never be erotic if we can predict them. So there is the idea of synesthesia comes up. Synesthesia is when you perceive one sense that sense refers to another sense. You perception connects with your background, knowledge and experience.

For example this chair when you see it, you can feel that it is soft and unstable. The chair that you would probably think as, if you sit on it, it would collapse. In fact, this is a chair made out of concrete. You background leads you to perceive it that way.  

Eroticism is to feel something, to realize something. The whole thing about eroticism is the alarm clock that wakes us up from doing the same routine over and over again. Eroticism is not a judgment that we have towards art and architecture but it is the way we approach art and architecture via sensation.

Aesthetic

Who would have thought that aesthetic is political? Aesthetic in our conscience would have to deal with more or less with art or poetry. Because the meaning of aesthetic is concerned with beauty or the appreciation with beauty and of course that these two things are related to art. So we have a perception that aesthetic would be something artistic and this actually frame us to think that way. Aesthetic is a perception that partially comes from a person and the rest comes from the trend, which comes from the demand of the market. The demand of the market wouldn’t exist with out people, who have the ability to buy. In other term, it is a capital that creates the trends.

Aesthetic is a mark of historical changes. As time changes, people perception changes which makes the aesthetic or trend changes as well. Every single period of time in history has different style of how people live. It came back to the same idea that people live in different time and they have different experience, which causes their judgments to be different. So every events and experience in each period of time form how people perceive and judge thing. Once you have different judgments, your perception of beauty would be different. It is all because of people judge what they like or what they don’t. This is why perception of beauty changes over time, which creates historical mark.

Aesthetic is a will. It could never force anyone to do anything. People would do anything for Aesthetic. They want their life to look good in other people points of view as well. It is all because human are social animal. One of the examples that we were given in class was plastic surgery. No one would want to go through a painful process for anything but aesthetic that would gain their confidences, prides and a space in society. Because, this is postmodern society, people care about how they look.

Sacred and Profane

 “Sacredness” and “Profanity”, the two contradicting ideas, will be completely meaningless without any of our perception or interpretation. Sacred is the way people put an object or subject up to the highest esteem something that does not belong to human. God is the sacred subject which people who believe in God have a common belief that mentioning God has to be in a positive way with a sacred context or a belief that mentioning God in a profane context is blasphemy, for instance, giving the expression by saying “Oh my God!”. So sacred things are what we respect. On the other hand, profane is opposite to sacred. It is a topic for human, ordinary things in our daily life. Something belongs to human. Swearing, gossiping, drinking, smoking are profane. But what is a line between sacredness and profanity.

Object will be just an object, neither profane nor sacred. A chair sitting in a room will be just a chair, neither profane nor sacred. If that chair is decorated with gold, having a red carpet leading us there, sitting in the most powerful spot in a throne hall, we would know immediately that it is not just a chair. We see all ornamentation and its surrounding context. We perceive the importance of the chair through another perception that decoration with gold is extravagance and red carpet is importance. It is more important than just being a chair. It is not a chair for us but it is a throne for king. This reminded me of a scene from a movie King’s speech when King George VI and Lionel were left alone at the church. King George was shocked when Lionel took the action that normal people couldn’t do which was sitting on the throne. It is an important chair that no one could sit on but the king. King George was angry because he has a perception that the throne was sacred. This chair wouldn’t be sacred and important without anyone perceived it that way.  

To raise a chair to become sacred, you just make it different add ornamentation to it and put it in the sacred context. It is the same as the idea of museum. Museum brings something very profane and raises it to be sacred by putting the object on the pedestal with glass covered so no one could touch it and by giving the lighting on it and make it important. However, there is something different which is museum attempt is to stop the object from dying and raise its true value. That is a process of museumification- museum and mummification.

Museum and a throne are the example of how to raise the profane object to be sacred. To make sacred thing to be profane can also be done as well. The play is profane. It is something that we enjoy, an entertainment for us. Many of play run the story through something sacred for example Greek play. Talking about Greek gods and goddesses, which suppose to be sacred but the way we perceive it is through the profane method. Greek play, Oedipus, refers to the oracle which catalysts the entire play. Oracle, which is the message from god suppose to be sacred, is in a profane form. This is how sacred thing can be profane.

Object can never be sacred or profane with out us as a medium. Our perception, values and background are indicators of what is profane or sacred. It is standard of sacredness. As we have different values and backgrounds, we have different perceptions. Something that I think that it is sacred may be just a joke for you which may cause conflict in the society. The only thing that we can do is to respect others and open your heart up.

Empty form

When we look at a chair, we think that we can sit on it. That is the interpretation that we give to a chair. Since we interpret the object, we actually gives the meaning to it When we look at modern architecture which we actually claim that it is the most simple architectural style we ever created, are we sure? Modern architecture is very complex but not complicated. It is complex in terms of the meaning we give to it. The function that architect would try very hard to express it through the architecture that he or she created. Even that modernist tried to make this type of architecture to be as empty from the meaning as possible, they never succeed. Modern architecture is full of meaning in the term of function. You can't design function without a translation of a user. When interpretation occurs, that is when meanings exist in the design. Another way of explaining this is, function is a meaning. 

Empty form, Empty form is the concept of design that is flexible at zero degree. This means it could be anything as we want. For example, a room could be anything that we want it to be. It could be a bathroom, a kitchen, a stadium, a tower anything. I think this concept is very conceptual in architecture. It is impossible to create one cause it will never be flexible enough. However, post modernists try to achieve it by designing double functioning elements, fluid forms but still it is not flexible at zero degree. So I think we as architects (architectural student) , are running towards the idea. However, empty form actually exists in our society but not in architectural from. How? Money is an object that can be everything we wish it to be. How? By trading, money is the mutual object of trading. We could trade it for a car, a house, a bathroom, a building and ever other things. Money can buy objects. 

Hyperreality, Simulation and Reality plus why Borat is funny

Hyperreality is actually one of the theory I found out that it is amazing. It changes my perception towards the world as seeing what is real into what is not. A question that may come into your mind as you reading this is what is hyperreality. Hyperreality is beyond reality. It is a state which you can't really distinguish what is real and what is not. To achieve hyperreality can be done through the moment you can't tell what is reality or simulation. Simulation is not just you acting yet pretending and experience what you are pretending to be. One example we had in our reading is, to simulate your sickness is not just saying that you are sick but experiencing all the symptom of sickness that you are simulating. This is simulation. 

There is an artist playing with simulation and hyperreality- Nikki Lee. Nikki Lee is a korean performer artist based in New York city She has her theme what she wants to be and experience. In another term, what she wants to simulate her self as. For example, she simulates herself as an African American woman. She has to learn how to speak with African American accent. Dressing up like african american woman and live and think like them 24/7. She needs to have her own make up artist that can help her fake skin color. As you look at the picture below you will see no Korean woman anymore but an African American woman. 

Nikki S. Lee as African American Womanhttps://blogs.wellesley.edu/arthafr316sp13/

Once Nikki has a theme to be a strip dancer she has to lose her weight  to make her simulation to be as real as possible. So people can't really tell that she is simulating to be a strip dancer. When people can't tell whether she is feigning, that is when they achieve hyperrealism. 

Now we have to think more what reality is. Is our belief real? It is real in our conscience. (That's how we say to ourselves) But is it real or it is just something we make. Doesn't our perception actually form our belief to be real in our conscience? Everything we perceive and translate came from our background. If you think about Ghost, some of you might believe it or not. For those who believe it would think that Ghost is real. But how do you know that Ghost is real. For me, Ghost is mythical. You can't prove it if it does exist or not. Even some people say that Ghost can be prove with technology. Yes, we live in technology world. It is the world where things can be faked by technology. Maybe it would be best by not believe in anything as it is real. Reality is no longer tangible. 

Another thing we did in the class which is watching Borat. My instructor, Ajarn Taylor actually asked us why Borat is funny. So Borat is film call Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Borat came from Kazakhstan and was hired to act pretty much stupid like he doesn't know how to behave properly in America. What he was asked was to simulating that role. However, other people in the scene doesn't know that he is simulating. That is a funny part for us as a third party looking at it knowing everything. Seeing those people reaction toward Borat acting and they took it so serious. They can't identify that Borat is simulating. They are living in Hyperreality.(Well, those people don't know that he was acting) Borat can't be funny by himself without others' reactions towards him.

Sometimes, I wonder if things surround us is real or just another simulation. Or maybe there is no reality because everything we belief comes from our perception which it might be deceived. So what it real?

Relationship between Design and Translation

What is design? This is a one of the toughest question for me as a design student. To know the mean of this term, one thing you need to know is what sign is. Semiotic actually play a lot of roles in our society. It is just everywhere we go. For example, the symbols on in front of the ladies’ rooms show us that it is a room for ladies. We perceive the message right away that it is bathroom for ladies not for gentlemen. Sign is something that sends message or invitation out to people. Everything we perceive is “SIGN”.

So what is design? As we break down the term DESIGN as DE and SIGN, Design would mean to break down the sign, to destroy the sign. In another term, it is the action to break down everything we perceive everyday and differentiate them. But how can we make things different from what is already exist? And how can people design things with the same function has the out comes are different? It is because people perceive things differently that make the process of translation becomes different.

As it is stated in the last paragraph that people perceive things differently, it is because they all have different background, knowledge and experiences. For example, if you look back in to the Renaissance time, people would look at the ladies that is kind of chubby as beautiful. However, people in our era don’t think that way anymore. We perceive that body as fat. The perception of beauty changes overtime. Or western people might act differently from Thai people in the same situation. For instance, an old lady is sitting on a chair and there is a girl that needs to walk pass, western girl would just walk normally like nothing is happening. On the other hand, Thai girl would crawl on the ground until she crawl passes that older lady. Culture and value also make us perceive things differently.

Once people see things differently, they translate those things differently as well. Then they would design differently. Now, most of everything can’t be called creating the sign in twenty-first century instead they call it designing because almost everything is created. So they can’t really come up with original things but derive from the existing. But how those things will be derived it’s all depends on translation. For example, staircases have been existed for a long time. However, people keep designing it differently. From a staircase with risers and treads, they took away risers and stick the tread to wall. This makes the staircase look floatable. Another example is toothbrush that existed for a long time. What we can do with it is to make it more convenient to clean your teeth. So people have to find the bad part of the earlier model and ameliorate it, make it into the better model. Or they might add more features to a regular toothbrush. This is how design relates to translation in one way. Translation makes design different.

Another way of how design and translation relates is design effects the way people translate thing. Once the new invention is launched and it hits the public. Many people would have that image as a standard of the good object. For example, when mobile phone is first launched. It is a great object, a phone that is mobility. Then you can reach people wherever they are. But since smartphone is launched. People stop caring about the regular cell phone that can only text and call. They see smartphone as revolution or something that changes the world. Perspective of people on that object has changed. It create the different translation.