Week 39 - 5 November 2021

I had two cosmic experiences this week.
The first was a visit to The Cosmic House - Charles Jenck's residence until his recent death. At a time when we're losing a lot of postmodern architecture it's nice that this has become open to the public.

It made me realise that inhabiting postmodernism is different to seeing it. Despite it being an architectural movement known and criticised for surface-level ornament, there is a lot to learn from the way it uses story and mythology to make sense of the world.
The second was a visit to a floatation tank. I floated in warm dark salty water for an hour. At one point my eyes were open but I couldn't see and also I couldn't really feel my body and it just felt like pure me floating around separate from my body. I got a bit freaked out when I started wondering if that was what death was like. When I re-emerged Vauxhall seemed very crisp and slow.
Obviously the experience was weird and funny as well as transcendental. In the first 5 minutes I couldn't stop bumping into the walls of the tank. My other cosmic experience also made me laugh, in particular the introductory video in which architects piss their architectural pants at so-called architectural 'jokes' like putting two doorknobs on a door instead of one, or making a column not touch the ceiling. The funniest thing about architecture is what passes for a joke in it.
For school I'm still thinking about how we can see the city as a place for many species. I read a paper called 'Rethinking relational ideas of place in more‐than‐human cities' which I found helpful. In particular the idea that 'nature' is just as invented a concept as 'city' is - and the two are not binary.

When I was walking around after my floating experience I ended up photographing a few artificially lit plants. I don't want to over-bake why I find them interesting - but I think there's something about how instead of a photo directly of the city, it's a photo of 'nature' that could only be taken in the city. There's a post-rationalisation of a blurry photo if I ever saw one. But I also like that they're a little accidental.

Last update: 2021-11-05 12:00:00 -0600