quondam @ archinect/79/7904p.htm
from mnemonics to Mnemosyne
quondam 2004.06.06 11:27
"As a result, I have recently become more sympathetic to the "cop-out" position, which would mean abandoning the flawed ground zero design process altogether in favor of reconstructing the twin towers more or less as they were. Certainly, I'm prepared to defend reconstruction as a cultural act. It would be an offering to Mnemosyne, mother of the muses, from whom all culture flows."
--Herbert Muschamp, "Back to Square One at Ground Zero" in THE NEW YORK TIMES, 6 June 2004.
"To be honest, I wish all the tragedies of 911 just never happened. I wish the WTC Towers were still there, and I likewise wish they could be replaced just the way they were. But all of it did happen, and we will most likely never again see WTC Towers like the ones we used to see."
--Stephen Lauf, "WTC Viewing Platform or Husker Du redo" in THE DESIGN-L ARCHIVES, 10 January 2002.
'Husker du?' is Danish for 'do you remember?'
from mnemonic to Mnemosyne:
"Perhaps anyone dealing with the future of the World Trade Center site show read Frances A. Yates' THE ART OF MEMORY.
Just over a year ago I read (at least) the first chapter of THE ART OF MEMORY, "Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory," which clearly describes the principles of the mnemonic. For example:
"It is not difficult to get hold of the general principles of the mnemonic. The first step was to imprint on the memory a series of loci or places. ..."
--Stephen Lauf, "Re: These Muschampian NYTimes" in THE DESIGN-L ARCHIVE, 25 December 2002.
[I'm now seriously wondering what is the real "cop-out" position.]
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