2007.01.05
ideas
6. There is the idea of going very easy recombinant with the Quondam cad collection, and in the process generating a new narrative for Quondam. Ottopia is more or less the context, but so is Quondam itself, and so is reality (filtered through the virtual).
2007.01.09
some progress
[recording] The cad databases are taking time, and it is kind of tedious work. There are some inspirations that occur during the process while seeing the databases, but who knows if I'll ever do anything except just forget that I was ever inspired.
I do like the notion of continuing to use the databases as part of an ongoing architectural narrative at Quondam. Right now I'm not sure what that narrative will be, but I'll probably keep it in the context of Ottopia/Romaphilia. The narrative might also be about Quondam itself.
2007.02.07
meaning of labyrinth, etc.
I remembered last night that I recently read a good explanation of labyrinth (vis-à-vis architecture) and then thought how it relates to Piranesi's Campo Marzio plan, or at least how the labyrinth relates to some of the interpretations of the Ichnographia. I now think the passages read was within L.B. Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.
"Along with incomprehensible epigrams and inscriptions, unknowable animals and humans, the Hypnerotomachia is full of obscure, dark, intractable places: forests, veiled entrances, labyrinths. Indeed, the labyrinth--a kind of emblem of hermetic difficulty, the symbol par excellence of search and the abstract model for most kinds of problem-solving activities--marks almost every step of the hero's wanderings as he makes his way through the story. As early as the first chapter, the reader follows the hero through a forest as he exclaims, "I had as my only recourse to implore the pity of the Cretan Ariadne, who gave the thread to Theseus to get out of the difficult labyrinth." Readers are constantly finding themselves within labyrinths: one inside the viscera of the temple at the base of the pyramid; an aquatic one in the form of a circular, maze-like pool; the concentric-patterned garden on the island of Cythera; and the subterranean spaces under a landscape of ruins."
"The book itself is a labyrinth, a series of veils, a cryptic epigram."
Liane Lefaivre, Leon Battista Alberti's Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, pp. 90, 91.
2007.03.12 17:05
...and speaking of random tangents
"In a sense Asimov, Heinlein, and the masters of American Science Fiction are not really writing of science at all . . . They're writing a kind of fantasy fiction about the future, closer to the Western and the Thriller, but it has nothing really to do with science . . . Freud pointed out that you have to distinguish between analytic activity. which by and large is what the sciences are, and synthetic activities which are what the arts are. The trouble with the Heinlein-Asimov type of Science Fiction is that it's completely synthetic. Freud also said that synthetic activities are a sign of immaturity, and I think that's where classical Science Fiction falls down."
--Ballard, Speculation, 1969.
Upon first reading this passage, thoughts of how Piranesi's Il Campo Marzio dell'Antica Roma and particularly the Ichnographia Campi Martii have been largely misinterpreted by 20th century architectural 'scholarship' came to mind. The synthetic quality of Piranesi's archaeology (before archaeology was formalized into a science) is all the critics/theoreticians saw, and they completely discounted the analytical aspect of Piranesi's archaeology. Basically, a non-analytical analysis resulted in a synthetic interpretation.
The wonderful thing about Il Campo Marzio dell'Antica Roma (including the Ichnographia Campus Martius) is that the distinction between the analytical and the synthetic is never manifest--the work seamlessly embodies both natures.
[note to self: think about an updated republication of "Theatrics Times Two" and "Theatrics Times Two, too".]
"Science now, in fact, is the largest producer of fiction. A hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago even, science took its raw material from nature. A scientist worked out the boiling point of a gas or the distance a star is away from the Earth, whereas nowadays, particularly in the social, psychological sciences, the raw material of science is a fiction invented by the scientists. You know, they work out why people chew gum or something of this kind . . . so the psychological and social sciences are spewing out an enormous amount of fiction. They're the major producers of fiction. It's not the writers anymore."
--Ballard, Speculation, 1969.
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2007.03.12 21:46
...and speaking of random tangents
As to "It raced so fast the pulse exited a specially prepared chamber before it even finished entering it," that book may already be written---perhaps either Einstein's General Relativity or Special Relativity. (But don't quote me on that.)
As it stands, to me, the sentence relates the pulse being quickly stretched between the entry and exit points of the chamber.
But the sentence may not even be correctly describing what really happened:
Perhaps it meant to say the pulse completely exited the chamber at a time in the past relative to its entry time.
or
Perhaps it meant to say the pulse bilocated, being at two locations but not at the same time; again, the second space/time occurred before the first space/time.
(I wouldn't trust how journalists describe the result of the experiment at this point.)
This is what the whole time warp theory is about. Or at least it's what it used to be all about. Or maybe theories quickly exit before they finish entering.
It is said that St. Catherine de Ricci (at least) once in her life bilocated. A very rare attribute, even among 'saints'.
2007.04.21 13:22
Featured Discussion: Volume
How does bilocaton relate to de-territorialization? Is bilocation like a hyper inverted de-territorialization?
2007.05.18 14:57
lost endings
What I see in LOST is the same type of convoluted (complicated; intricately involved) storyline filled with clandestine, sort of encyclopedic clues. What seems somewhat unique to LOST though is its way of character development via real time portrayal and flashback. This operation manifests (at least) a double theater, which is a very fecund, indeed baroque, story-telling vehicle that is not often used.
2007.06.24
Quondam as some strange un-scientific fiction architectur(al novel?)
2007.06.25 10:36
For the pleasure of sharing ideas, through the poetry of the printed word
What I'd like to do more of is 'fictitious historical dialogue'.
As of yesterday, reading Duboy (again) along with ongoing Montesquieu and spotty Foucault--bricolage plus letters plus Las Meninas etc. Mix that with 'fictitious historical dialogue' and you have my next book project.
It's a book about all kinds of style. The working title is über œuvred e suicidal. Piranesi hires a Quaker lawyer to fix historical inaccuracies while the Quaker lawyer hires Piranesi to design an historically accurate house. Neither knew of the other's true propensity--playful double-meaning meets good-natured honesty--yet they discover themselves to be a formidable team. You'll think you're laughing and you'll laugh about thinking.
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2007.06.25
various inspirations
...been reading Duboy's Lequeu again to pick up on the bricolage. ...today wrote about Piranesi and Miers Fisher (a Quaker lawyer).
The Quaestio Abstrusa backgrounds should become a renewed inspiration. ...start combining past drawings as well as past models.
2007.06.26 11:55
For the pleasure of sharing ideas, through the poetry of the printed word
I love being inspired, thus the new working title of my next book project is The Faux Failing Memory.
The interesting thing about the written word is that you can almost always tell when the author isn't being completely honest. At least I can.
2007.06.26 13:33
For the pleasure of sharing ideas, through the poetry of the printed word
Perhaps at first it's instinctual, and then, as one learns to trust one's instincts, it becomes a skill. That's at least the reader's part. The writer gives off clues within their style. Citing "failing memory" is often such a clue.
Quilian, you're not suggesting that people at archinect aren't always being completely honest are you?!? Such a prick would surely burst the (hot air?) balloon.
2007.06.26 14:29
For the pleasure of sharing ideas, through the poetry of the printed word
A plain old lie is for sure less honest than memory. Memories are mental reenactments, and, for sure, a reenactment can never be the original. Those are givens.
Yes, one can certainly tell an unwitting falsehood, and that's usually due to not knowing all pertinent information, or some such circumstance. Whereas to actually tell a lie means that indeed the liar does know the honest truth, but chooses not to express it. In which case the memory is indeed truthful, although the expression of the memory isn't truthful.
How exactly does one write selfishly? Is that like writing notes to oneself?
2007.06.26 21:28
For the pleasure of sharing ideas, through the poetry of the printed word
....since this thread is about architectural writing, it is worthwhile noting that Piranesi, within the Ichnographia Campus Martius, utilized plans, plan positionings and Latin labels to create a readable text. This is rare, if not unique, within the realm of architectural writing. You can read the full 'love and war' story here.
You may not have slept through roman architecture class. Perhaps your memory fails you more than you know.
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2007.06.26
the working title musuem
... write an architectural novel entitled "the working title museum". ...all the titles and something about them. ...there could be images/plans too.
2007.07.03
There goes that bilocation again.
"Did you notice how Chapter 3 of Against the Day is entitled "Bilocations"?
"Yes, I did."
"Don't you think it's strange that Pynchon should incorporate "bilocation" into a novel a couple years after you did?"
"Who knows? Maybe Pynchon read The Odds of Ottopia while it was simultaneously written and published online."
2007.07.31 17:55
Necessary architecture books
Not just reading other things, how about writing other things too? Architectural literature could be so much more creative.
2007.09.06
next use of Quondam
...utilize the model (and drawing) collection, and Quondam... ...a reflection of all that. The "story" could be Unthinking an Architecture.
The main theme is the virtual place that Quondam is capable of being--a place and an exhibit and a book all at once. Does that add up to some kind of strange new architecture? It might. And there is the notion of connecting all the aspects of Quondam('s collection) together. It might just be the unusual and/or unexpected combination of material that manifests an avant-garde impact.
...may become much more poetry than prose
2007.10.02
innovative program
Figure out a way to make the new arrivals famous for 15 minutes. Perhaps ongoing guest spots on a perpetual reality NYC/TV show with lots of sink or swim competitions and flash-in-the-pan stuff. Fleeting fame really is the new normality.
2007.10.08
strange architecture idea
I have this vague idea of how to generate virtual architecture via Quondam, and it has to do with "creating" buildings that relate to my letters and notes. It's sort of a mnemonic devise, but also a form of design inspiration as if the various texts were the programs of the buildings. I have no idea of how this approach would be implemented, but I see it as a means to create an environment where all my material connects together.
Part of this idea is also to just start using Quondam as an art/experiment project (as opposed to the archive that it now is). Plus I want the cad graphics to become completely integrated.
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2008.01.20 13:06
I want to write about architecture....How?
2000.01.20:
"I better stop before I start writing a reenactment novel here."
2008.01.20:
I read Remainder this past Friday; the episodes between Ludwig II and Josef Kainz came to mind--truth is stranger than fiction. Ludwig, too, was a very, very wealthy young man.
"Hey, did you hear the one about another Colonial Williamsburg in Arabia?"
"Gosh, that'd be like reenactment cubed."
"I know, and then they'll start slipping into the fourth dimension."
"Here a Versailles, There a Versailles, Everywhere a Versailles, sigh."
2008.10.19
chapters of Architecture in Critical Condition
"Bilocation Syndrome" could be about Ichnographia Quondam and how it operates. Perhaps including thoughts on virtual and real and how there can be two places where things occur simultaneously.
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2008.10.29 11:05
books on design strategy
and for ultimate fiction, autoarchiography!
2008.11.13 11:19
I Love Architecture
coincidentally read last night...
"Novelists and philosophers are both obsessed with language, and make themselves up out of concepts. Both, in a way, create worlds. World? But the worlds of the novelist, I hear you say, do not exist. As for that--they exist more often than the philosophers'. Then, too--how seldom does it seem to matter. Who honestly cares? They are divine games. Both play at gods..."
2009.01.12
"A post about empty spaces - or lack of - feels like a suitable place to put Quondam, Stephen Lauf's epically impenetrable 'online collage', a real labyrinth of a website. Here, for example, you'll find information on the First Virtual House of the 20th Century, Robert Venturi's Franklin Court. Not just an empty room, but an empty house."
2009.01.29
Lost's ending
I now suspect, after seeing the third episode of Lost season 5 last night, that Lost will end with all of its original cast alive and together. This is how I see the current time traveling coming to a conclusion. It will be like Finnegans Wake and like Il Campo Marzio. Too bad Bloomer didn't make this vital connection.
So now it's exploration of the possibilities of the space-time continuum. Like Proust was a neuroscientist, was Piranesi, with the Ichnographia Campus Martius, a scientist of the fourth dimension? (Here is where I have to review Dixon's "Ichnographia as Uchronia".) IS IQ also a study / experiment of architecture (and urbanism) in the fourth dimension? For IQ the time continuum connection is the Axis of Life/Parkway connection, which comes after Piranesi's own Porticus Neronianus/St. Peters connection.
Are the recombinant, appositional buildings of Quondam studies / experiments of architecture in the space/time continuum? Is that what they always have been? (Here is perhaps where I reread Geometry, Relativity and the Fourth Dimension.)
And what of The Odds of Ottopia? Did it all have a sense that even I did not fully understand? Bilocation was a significant part of the story. A step beyond Theatrics Times Two? What is Bilocation2 or Bilocation3, etc.--the studies of further powers within 2 = odd.
Quondam and Museumpeace as bilocation theaters? And all my posting activity over the last 12 years as writing / existing within the continuum as opposed to just within reality itself. Just looking now at the Virtual Domain collages I again see an architecture within the space-time continuum--the theme is widely present throughout my work, and I can now see on what foundation my further work rests. Is Quondam (and Museumpeace getting there) impenetrable because of its space-time existence? its slippages in and out of various time frames? (Do I write a comment at things.net?)
This is a great note because a breakthrough into understanding my (design) work is abundantly more clear. There is much here for me to elaborate on further, and I could formerly write about what Quondam is all about and indeed explain my work as a further approach to architecture. Does this also explain my further approach to art?
And now, before I go to read Dixon's text (Uchronia), I'll end by mentioning that I now have to think about the relationship of reenactionary architecturism to traveling in the space-time continuum.
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