Monday, March 1, 2010

Say What?

“The museum and the library are heterotopias that are proper to western culture of the nineteenth century.”

*To say that the museum and library are proper heterotopias grants that connotation that there are improper heterotopias. What are these heterotopias? Why are they improper to the western culture? Are they still improper? Does it even matter? To say that there are improper heterotopias would be to give into the psychiatric hospital, prison or brothel, places of distress and deviation. Wouldn't these same heterotopias be improper today, or has the west transcended the idea of impropriety? What exactly do the museum and library as heterotopias tell modern society except what is already known, mirroring the knowledge that they've imparted on us, about the great depths and fascination of history and wonderment of the world? These "proper" heterotopias of the west encompass the ideas of history and looking to the past for insight into the future, yet again, there is the problem of never having a view of the present. By consenting to these heterotopias, one is constantly looking at what has been, and thinking about what could be, and never understanding what is, until it has already happened- cycle of obsolescence. (Hermeneutic Code- units of possibility; Action- prediction/postdiction)


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