Reading Response Week 6 Cinema & Architecture | Media and Architecture 2012

02/12/13 12:09

Media and Architecture 2012

A Graduate Seminar in Media Studies at The New School. Taught by Shannon Mattern.

About the Class Download Syllabus Requirements + Assignments Procedures + Policies Schedule + Readings

Class Announcement Events + Exhibitions Exhibition/Site Review In the News Interesting Stuff Reading Response

Search

Reading Response Week 6 Cinema & Architecture

Previous / Next By Nikolas / February 28, 2012 / Reading Response / No Comments

Reading Response Week 6 Architecture and Cinema I believe that Eisensteins (2009) approach to linking architecture and cinema offers a fruitful approach to start the discussion on cinema and architecture. He refers to film as montage since moving images are applied to each other and, thus, links cinema and architecture. In Site-seeing: Architecture and the Moving Image Giuliana Bruno (1997) highlights the feature of mobility which links the moving image cinema and architecture and is a central theme throughout her article. In this regard she mentions that [c]inemathe motion pictureinhabits modernitys moving urban culture. (ibid, p. 11). Cinema frequently depicts our society and since it is an audiovisual experience it affects various other forms of arts, such as architecture. With the advent of the cinema architectural forms, such as arcades and department stores have originated, but especially transportation is of particular significance influencing not only architecture and the urban space, but urban culture in general. Bruno emphasizes architectures strong influence on cinema. According to her architectures of transit prepared the ground for the invention of the moving imagean outcome of the age of travel culture and the very epitome of modernity (ibid, p. 11). Bruno also refers to the significance that the movie house possesses for urban areas and highlights that film is a manifestation of the metropolis. In this regard she refers to Sigfried Kracauer who outlines films material attraction for the street, the pavement, feet walking over stones. (p. 12). Therefore, the strong link between architecture and film results in the fact that both are heavily dependent on mobility. With reference to Le Corbusier as well as Eisenstein and Choisy, Bruno points out that architecture is mostly perceived while moving. Moreover, urban areas are strongly influenced by architecture which manifests itself in part in a citys character. Since film often deals with society and culture, urban areas are often an integral part in film and therefore architecture cannot be ignored. Bruno relates to the movie house which is a core feature of Sigfried Kracauers essay Cult of Distraction: On Berlins Picture Palaces. Kracauer depicts the picture houses in Berlin as palaces of distraction revealing the total artwork (Gesamtkunstwerk) of effects (p. 92). Ockmans essay Architecture in a Mode of Distraction: Eight Takes on Jacques Tatis Playtime gave me a chance to actually receive a greater understanding of the connection between architecture and film. In this regard Ockman quotes Walter Benjamin who highlights that both cinema and architecture are received by a collectivity in a mode of distraction (p. 171) in line with Kracauer as mentioned previously. However, film in contrast to architecture is limited insofar as the viewer stays in one location and cannot actually dive into the experience; at least not physically although mentally. In contrast architecture can not only be perceived but it also offers a haptic experience. Ockman highlights that during the advent of film, this medium not only visually but also technically symbolized the industrialized age, urban metropolitan areas as well as modernity; [m]etonymically, as well as metaphorically, the cinematic medium translated the impact of industrialization into the realm of aesthetic reception (p. 172). In this regard Ockman repeatedly refers to Walter Benjamin who suggests that the highly technical, abstract aesthetic of modern architecture has the potential to educate the masses for the changes wrought by the contemporary epoch (p. 174). I was especially intrigued by the way in which Ockman refers to Tatis film Playtime which highlights on the one hand how strongly American Culture influenced Europe after WW2 and on the other hand also reveals the bureaucratic and consumerist nature of modern society. This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons
http://www.wordsinspace.net/media-architecture/2012-spring/?p=526 Pgina 1 de 2

Reading Response Week 6 Cinema & Architecture | Media and Architecture 2012

02/12/13 12:09

This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Tweet

Like

Send

Be the first of your friends to like this.

2012 Media and Architecture 2012 Designed by Wpshower / Powered by WordPress

a456 Archinect Architectural League of New York

Meta

BLDGBLOG City of Sound Grey Room Log loud paper mammoth M+A Links on Pinboard M+A Architecture References on Zotero Places Journal Storefront for Art + Architecture Strange Harvest Studio-X things magazine Urban Omnibus Volume Magazine

Login Log out Entries RSS Comments RSS WordPress.org

http://www.wordsinspace.net/media-architecture/2012-spring/?p=526

Pgina 2 de 2