The Obsession

“The great obsession of the nineteenth century was, as we know, history: with its themes of development and of suspension, of crisis, and cycle, themes of the ever-accumulating past, with its real preponderance of dead men, and the menacing glaciation of the world... The present epoch will perhaps be above all the epoch of space.”

- O * It wasn't a fascination or an interest but an obsession, an obsession, a stalking- in this case of the past. What comes to mind is the extensive knowledge that came in the twentieth century-with the continuation of the obsession-specifically following the decoding of the Rosetta Stone, Howard Carter's famous exploration, and this fascination with the past is all too familiar to the heterotopia of the cinema (though in this case there is an interesting compilation/juxtaposition of the imagination of the film industry and the "literal" type of exploration/adventure that would take place). In this time the ArchaeoAnthrological-Historian was the master of the sphere of knowledge. What knowledge couldn't be obtained through history? What could it predict about the future? Does history, in fact, repeat itself? This question has carried far beyond the obsession of the nineteenth century for it is still a question we look to today. **Here there are questions of the space/time conundrum, moving linearly through time, while looking back at different times in order to make up for current predicaments. At a time when it seemed as though all history had been recounted and the burning desire of the honeymoon period burnt itself out, the world looked to the elements of space and the future; never a focus on the present. We use the code of actions (specifically of those discussed above), logic (that follows the linear perspective), and new code (my own "creation") of historical perspective and linear-flow to designate the beginnings of the obsession and the interests/importance of the heterotopias to designate the in-betweens, the places of time of the past, and space of the future.

Death, Data, Entry, Encoded arc, our Common cause

“We are in the epoch of simultaneity: we are in the epoch of juxtaposition, the epoch of the near and far, of the side-by-side, of the dispersed. We are at a moment. I believe, when our experience of the world is less that of a long life developing through time that that of a network that connects points and intersects with its own skein.”

* We have a constant connection with time, we are in a period of time where everything is instant, where everything and nothing are happening at the same time. We live during the time where virtually any question has the potential of being answered with the click of a button. The commentary here has already started in the passage being presented; the idea of simultaneity and juxtaposition of time that are so heavily present in both Foucault and Time Code, where the lives of everyone intersect at random intervals and random vectors like in an online social network. A time where all things are happening at once, and people are aware of their happenings, perhaps not the individual incidents, but the knowledge that they are, somewhere occuring: death, disease, birth, sex, walking, talking, laughing, reading, crying-the endless possibilities of the human condition that have become linked together across countries, continents, and cultures; which until recently has not been possible. Attempt to transcend what is and what has been. No satisfaction with the past or the incompetency of the present. ** (Actions of the human condition; historical hermeneutic ideas)

http://www.dancethroughthepoppies.blogspot.com

Universal Forms

(And back from the "Dance," as reconnection into the "real").

“There is probably not a single culture in the world that fails to constitute heterotopias. That is a constant of every human group. But the heterotopias obviously take quite varied forms, and perhaps no one absolutely universal form of heterotopia would be found."

* Do they exist? Do Universal Heterotopias actually exist, and furthermore are there really heterotopias available in every culture? Probably gives the connotation of possibility in either direction; by saying that there are probably heterotopias everywhere, gives rise to the possibility that there are a few that don't have any. Though, where they might be found, I have no idea, perhaps in normadic tribes of daoists, living in the moment and living their lives, not thinking about the future or the past? Could there be sub-heterotopias? As in not the deviant or the distress but the natural- like language. Granted language could never constitute a physical place, but wouldn't that make it a perfect example of a sub-heterotopia, a place beyond place, a place that can take you places or bring you ideas and the possibilities of furthering the "actual" heterotopias, to open the cabinet and pull back the heterotopiatic mirror that displays society in its very foundations? Perhaps grants the same connotation as probably, giving room for chance. If such sub-heterotopias were to exist, such as language, could that not be a universal heterotopia, as the same could be said for emotion? Emotion is universal, people feel the same pain, sorrow, sadness, happiness, desire, and anger as everyone else, so then wouldn't this heterotopia (shall we say the heterotopia of the heart), or sub-heterotopia as it were, universal? It grants outstanding possibility: insight into the past of human society, insight into the present, and insight into the future- emotions are the one constant. How did I get here?

** The codes of illogical and transcendatory (own creation, uniqueness) thought. Code of action and possibility that grants insight throughout the passage.

Real inside of the Reel

“The heterotopia is capable of juxtaposing in a single real place several spaces,”.

* The real (heterotopia) can put several spaces in a single place, let's say for example, the idea of the cinema: a real place that combines the past (film was made in advance), the present (film appears to be taking place in real time, in the present moment), and the future (audience looking forward to the end and the whole story/experience) and portrays the 3-dimensional people on 2-dimensional places. But then I think is there a true "real" place, or space? And if the heterotopia is juxtaposing several spaces in a single real place, how many spaces can be juxtaposed? Is there a limit? What about a film, about a film? Or a film with a character watching a television show about people who are watching tv or a movie? How many spaces are in these spaces? How many levels are there and is there ever a limit to this connection and layered space if the "world is in a time of juxtaposition and simultaneity"? (Action of movie viewing and spaces; semes of the heterotopia).

Persistence of Memory

“Most often linked to slices in time”

- If *They are linked to time, and time fades and disappears just as fast as it arrives does this not mean that heterotopias are always moving, always changing? This could very well make it that there is never a constant heterotopia and never will be, and just as one can’t predict the future one can also not predict the next heterotopia, when it will arrive, when it will leave, how long we’ll remember it, ad infinatum. Take Salvidor Dali and his "Persistence of Memory," was he painting the wasteland of the lost heterotopias? Everything is connected through time, but are there specifics. There is later talk about the boarding schools of the 18th century or forced enlistment (the draft). Or could there even be a distinct heterotopia for every moment of time? And if so... would it not be possible that Dali meant for this to be part of the plurality of his painting? Even when using the archives of the museum or library there could be no way of remembering or processing every heterotopia. Which is even more interesting because these places that store the remnants of time itself, these heterotopias, can be used to look back and remember heterotopias, so can it not be said that these places can thus be consider hyperheterotopias?

(Possibilities/Actions of history and the intricacies of society, hermeunatic, logic)

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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)