quondam @ archinect/79/7913r.htm
lebbeus woods and Piranesi
Janosh 2005.04.17 11:57
I seem to remember reading somewhere that freemasons resurrected G.B. Piranesi's plan for the Campo Marzio in Philadelphia, going so far as to locate within the Philadelphia Museum of Art evidence that Mary Magdalene was actually married to Christ, and spawned his children. Their progeny, fleeing murder in the event that their identity be known, fled to New York, conscious of the fact that everyother person in the city considers themselves worthy of Christ-like admiration. While there, Lebbeus Woods, 20th descendant of the baby Jesus, devised drawings for his "Upper Chamber, NeoMechanical Tower". Published extensively, it came into the hands of director Terry Gilliam, who happened to filming a dark reconstruction of the science fiction classic Le Jetee in the city of Philadelphia. In violation of Federal Copyright Law, the Gilliams Production Designer integrated the now infamous Chair w/ Armature into a scene in which Bruce Willis (who reportedly has visited Rome on more than one occasion) is held captive and warned of grave injury should he reveal the secrets with which he is entrusted.
Surely this is no coincidence, and worthy of further study.
lebbeus woods and Piranesi
db 2005.04.17 12:04
rita, unfortunately, my copy of Tafuri is packed right now as we're in the process of moving. However, the quote you cite makes my point (I think) in that there is great danger in thinking one is either completely right or suggesting someone is completely wrong. My point to you (and the initial poster) is that Tafuri is not "plain [completely] wrong" but is merely one piece in what should be an larger puzzle of research. Read it ALL, then figure it out.
In general, I think Tafuri is right to reach beyond the mere research to offer possible (and even improbable) links to other movements and ideas. It would be wrong of him to suggest (and I don't believe he does) that his is the only (correct) interpretation. In that, it is not ironic at all that he uses the quote from Ginzburg/Prosperi, as simply having pieces fall into place does not guarentee absolute rightness, and that thinking so will in fact lead to wrongness. Equally, dismissing one approach in favor of another out of hand does seem to lead to such dogmatism. Tafuri is not suggesting his is the ultimate and end of research on Piranesi and the avant-garde (much less so on Piranesi specifically), but is presenting a particular Marxist/postmodernist examination of those connections. While that approach has fallen into disfavor today, I still find it useful as antidote to the myopic treatment many subjects receive today and which suggest that if you're not a Piranesi scholar (or other) you can't talk about Piranesi at all.
Tafuri's use of Piranesi is to a certain end and purpose and meant for a particular context of inquiry. Misguided and misinformed as his study would be in other contexts, it remains valuable for what he sets up as the limits of his study. For the initial question here, I still think it to be a valuable source for veux1's investigation.
Everyone chases their own tail here and there. It's simply what we do. Biting it might mean we've actually achieved something.
lebbeus woods and Piranesi
the cellardoor whore 2005.04.17 12:10
(if there was no intention of reenactment does reenactment still hold?
to a certain extent reenacting is a recreation of authorship?)
A reenacted spatiality? But then again, Rita/Stephen does not delve into further details. Almost as if there already (enough) adoration of a stated and stunted 'uncanny coincidence'. Its almost like new age rationale.
lebbeus woods and Piranesi
Rita Novel 2005.04.17 13:16
Again, virtually everything Tafuri has written about Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius is plain wrong, thus Tafuri's "particular interpretation relating Piranesi's work to the shaping of space by later avant-garde movements" is based on incorrect interpretation.
Interesting how 12 Monkeys was filmed in Philadelphia, but who cares. What's more interesting is the exact location of the Life of Constantine tapestries vis-a-vis the "axis of life". Janosh, you should get up on the latest gossip.
Do any of you ever stop to think and wonder why a superficial similarity between Lebbeus Woods' work and Piranesi's work is worthy of intellectual investigation, while a very real similarity between Philadelphia's Benjamin Franklin Parkway and a very symbolic aspect of Piranesi's Ichnographia Campus Martius is immediately scorned as worthless and/or fantasy? I think the answer lies within the direct relationship of ignorance and ignoring, plus the propaganda of the ether playground.
Hey cellardoor whore, just because you don't know about my delving into further details doesn't mean it hasn't already happened.
Oh, and what are the many similarities between Lebbeus Woods and Piranesi again?
18 April gossip that matters?
2005.04.17 11:07
[clip]
the real gossip, however...
Constantine is Helena's second child, although the first and only with Constantius. Yes, Maximian and Helena were together beforehand, with a daughter, Theodora, as the result. In typical fashion, Maximian wanted more, i.e., a son, so he looked for another mate, while Helena and Constantius soon got together. Fortunately, Eutropia and Theodora bonded well, and the "secret" was mostly forgotten except by the inner few adults. Twenty years later the "secret" became even more secret as Constantius married Theodora, but it did ultimately matter that all Constantius' children were closely related to Helena, which also kind of explains why Crispus "got the short end of the stick." Alas, poor Fausta, it was her learning of the secret(s) that led to her suicide.
So who was Maxentius' real father?
Eutropia now says it's Diocletian, but that laugh while she says it still makes you wonder.
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