I created a simple drawdel / collage to illustrate what I immediately think of when I think "authentic. This is a starting place for more studies to follow.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
What it means to be authentic...
After a week's worh or intensive diagraming, vignettes and sketch problems, there are several themes or ideas that I am drawn to. Thus far, I have been looking at the urban / suburban connection as well as the "usused" space that sometimes separates these areas. I am still trying to narrow my focus into a more defined area of study. Something that keeps coming up is the idea of an "authentic" experience. What exactly does that mean, to be "authentic." To me, this means original, unique and un-copyable (if that's a word). The spaces and architecture you may enconter in New York's Soho area or Boston's North End are authentic areas that conjure up unique and irreplaceable images and memories. Olive garden and TGI Fridays are the polar opposite of this. My presentation on Sunday struggled in that I was too emotional and opinion based, rather than analytical. I am hoping that by defining some terms this week and digging a little deeper, I will unearth a more focused thesis statement.
I created a simple drawdel / collage to illustrate what I immediately think of when I think "authentic. This is a starting place for more studies to follow.
I chose images from my recent trip and my recent work in Cincinnati to illustrate authenticity. I oriented the images along a changing path because I feel change or deviation is associated with authenticity. That is not to say something rigid cannot be authentic; just that in change of form, I see creativity.
Images, buildings, streets or spaces that evoke strong emotional connections or memories hold autheticity. In a way, thre is a certain classic element to this. That is not to say that something new cannot be authentic, although wen we think authetic, we typically think "old". What is a word for something new that is also authentic? Innovative, original, unique, unprecedented?
The falling figures in the Pei addition evoked a number of emotions for me. As soon as I saw the figures, I was reminded of 9/11. I do not know (and I doubt) that this was the intention of the artist, however, I believe this lends authenticity to the exhibition. The ability to cause a person to recall a vivid memory or evoke a strong emotional response; I realize this is not in line with my office/suburbia presentation, but I am curious as to where this can lead.
I created a simple drawdel / collage to illustrate what I immediately think of when I think "authentic. This is a starting place for more studies to follow.
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I meant to add, I'd really like to hear everyone's opinion as to what being authentic means...being critical of myself after the presentation and not trying to be as judgemental or opinion based.
ReplyDeleteIt actually doesn't matter what other people think. A better way to go about understanding is to present clearly what you think and ask if others understand it. It is quite possible that "authentic" is not the right word. We find that the naming/word changes throughout the entire year but the idea doesn't. This is an important difference to understand.
ReplyDeleteIf you want my two cents (even though Denise says it doesn't matter), what you describe to me when you say 'authentic' is what I think of as 'culture'. Its this undefinable thing that gives a space and its surroundings its own character or identity, one that can't easily be found elsewhere and is constructed and molded over a long period of time (hence why strip mall chain restaurants, that are easy to construct or tear down, don't count).
ReplyDeleteI don't think the drawdel that you made is really a drawdel - the idea behind the drawdel is to understand the spatial qualities in drawing and model as one. What you have made is more like a collage with literal representations of what you consider authentic. One way to get at it is to look closer at the images that you have chosen to represent authentic and analyze/overlay the things that make it authentic. Is there a quality of public-ness related to authenticity that you see as necessary? What is the dimension required for something to be public -- ie. how many people? is it 2? is it 5? is it 20? how much volume of space is needed to created the threshold of "public" - at what point do the dimensions of space start to break down?
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