Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
What is a singular object? An idea, a building, a color, a sentiment, a human being. Each in turn comes under scrutiny in this exhilarating dialogue between two of the most interesting thinkers working in philosophy and architecture today. From such singular objects, Jean Baudrillard and Jean Nouvel move on to fundamental problems of politics, identity, and aesthetics as their exchange becomes an imaginative exploration of the possibilities of modern architecture and the future of modern life.and#160;
Among the topics the two speakers take up are the city of tomorrow and the ideal of transparency, the gentrification of New York City and Frank Gehryand#8217;s surprising Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. As Nouvel prompts Baudrillard to reflect on some of his signature concepts (the virtual, transparency, fatal strategies, oblivion, and seduction, among others), the confrontation between such philosophical concerns and the specificity of architecture gives rise to novel and striking formulationsand#8212;and a new way of establishing and understanding the connections between the practitioner and the philosopher, the object and the idea.and#160;
This wide-ranging conversation builds a bridge between the fields of architecture and philosophy. At the same time it offers readers an intimate view of the meeting of objects and ideas in which the imagined, constructed, and inhabited environment is endlessly changing, forever evolving.and#160;
Jean Baudrillard is one of the most influential thinkers of his generation and author of The Vital Illusion (2001).and#160;
Jean Nouvel has designed buildings throughout the world, including the new Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and is a recipient of Franceand#8217;s Grand Prix dand#8217;Architecture.and#160;
Robert Bononno, a translator and teacher, lives in New York City.
Synopsis
A revelatory conversation between two major figures in visual culture.
Table of Contents
Contentsand#160;Foreword and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; K. Michael HaysAcknowledgmentsand#160;and#160;I. First Interviewand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Radicality-Singular Objects in Architecture-Illusion, Virtuality, Reality-A Destabilized Area?-Concept, Irresolution, Vertigo-Creation and and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Forgetfulness-Values of Functionalism-New York or Utopia-Architecture: Between Nostalgia and Anticipation-(Always) Seduction, and#160;and#160; Provocation, Secrets-The Metamorphosis of Architecture-The Aesthetics of Modernity-Culture-A Heroic Architectural Act?-Art, Architecture, and Postmodernity-Visual Disappointment, Intellectual Disappointment-The Aesthetics of Disappearance-Images of Modernity-The Biology of the and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Visible-A New Hedonism?and#160;and#160;II. Second Interviewand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Truth in Architecture-Another Tower of Beaubourg-A Shelter for Culture?-On Modification: Mutation or Rehabilitation-Architectural Reason-The City of Tomorrow-Virtual Architecture, Real Architecture-Computer Modeling and Architecture-Lightness and Heaviness-What Utopia?-Architecture as the Desire for Omnipotence-Berlin and and#160;and#160;and#160; Europe-Architecture as the Art of Constraint-Transparency-Light as and#160; Matter-Disappearance-What Does Architecture Bear Witness To?-Singularity-Neutrality, Universality, and Globalization-Destiny and and#160; Becoming-The Idea of Architecture and History-Another Kind of and#160;and#160;and#160; Wisdom-The Question of Style-Inadmissible Complicity-Freedom as Self-Realizationand#160;Notesand#160;