Argument Framed
Two Identities of the City
The identity of the
city is divided between an external image of the city and an internal image of
the city.
The external image
is the image perceived by individuals on the exterior of the city, and is predicated
around its history and its monuments.
The internal image
is the image perceived by individuals on the interior of the city, and is
created through consumption and communication.
Identification
"The mirror is a
virtual plane between the real and the representation of the real."
The external image
of the city is divided from the internal image of the city through a
metaphorical mirror. Both the
external and internal images are reflected against themselves, alienating them
amongst the identity of the city as a whole. The duplication of the image through reflection creates a
continuity of the image, stripping down its sense of reality.
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As the city expands
and intensifies, the perpetual duplication of the images within the mirror
causes the identities to become suffocating.
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The individuals of
the interior become conscious of the represented image through the intensity of
exhaustion and suffocation, and begin to fight against the mirror for relief.
The individuals of
the exterior become conscious of the represented image through the intensity of
exhaustion and suffocation, and begin to fight against the mirror for relief.
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As the mirror is
attacked from either side, it becomes scratched and distorted. The image of the city becomes disrupted
and confused. The once perceived continuity
becomes deceptive and begins to reveal the superficiality of its representation,
and reality becomes questioned.
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Inhabitation within
the distorted image of the interior becomes threatening and delusional, as
consumption and communication are repeated beyond control, and space becomes evasively
liminal.
Inhabitation within
the distorted image of the exterior becomes threatening and delusional, as
historicity becomes fractured and skewed, and space becomes symbolically
offensive.
The Exchange of Identity
The madness created
by the distortion of the mirror motivates the individuals of either side to
fight harder, forcing the mirror to rupture and fracture.
Fragments of the mirror
fall and shatter, reflecting new views of the city and reveal passages to the
image beyond.
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The creation of
passages opens the closed relationship between the internal and external image
of the city, allowing for an informal and more comprehensive understanding of the
city's identity as a whole.
-
The passages become
a space of exchange, where perspectives on the new image of the city can be
placed in comparison and individual interpretations can be made.
The collapse of
representation poses new questions and interpretations about the image of the
city.
