Good Morning Andrew
Conceptually Oriented, Practically Confused
Vietnam Plan #01
I’m planning on traveling to Vietnam (and possibly Cambodia) November 10 – 28th. Although I’ve always been fascinated by Southeast Asia (particularly the former French colony of Indochina), I’ve never had the guts to actually pony up and buy the ticket until now.
So, with my bags already packed several months in advance, I’m ready to take off on another (much needed) break from the daily grind to focus on art and research.
I’m devoting my time on this trip to photographing the use and reuse of former French colonial architecture. In particular, I’m very interested to see how the buildings are being assimilated into the new, globalized architectural forms of late capitalism. I find it both ironic and fascinating that the colonial structures, which symbolized the the first developments of global economic culture are now disappearing.
07-26-2010
The built environment, like language, has the power to define and refine sensibility. It can sharpen and enlarge consciousness. Without architecture feelings about space must remain diffuse and fleeting.
Yi Fu Tuan
from “Space and Place”
07-16-2010
Disasters of Humanity Tourism
Yesterday I purchased my ticket to travel to Vietnam in November. While in the region, I am hoping to travel to Cambodia. Mainly, I want to see the obvious ruins of Angkor Wat, but I am now also debating a trip to Phnom Penh to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.
My reasons for traveling to Southeast Asia are completely personal. I’m not going there for business or research. I’m headed in that direction mostly because I need a break to regain my focus on architecture and photography. It is impossible for me to do this without immersing myself in the people in this area actually live and make use of space.
Is it ethical to travel to a place where crimes against humanity have been committed? (Especially if I am coming from a beach resort in Nha Trang?)
Objects Culled From Time
So, I am actually still making photographs. Instead of getting off my ass and investigating, documenting and experiencing the urban fabric, I’m sequestered in my studio. Here are a few objects of my collection that I keep returning to… because of design as well as their particular place as objects in/out of time.
Conscientious | Marcos Goymil
“I don’t speak Spanish so I have no idea what Marcos Goymil’s Urbanidadesis about – but I like the images.”
This leads me to wonder: Is it actually important to be able to research an image (through language-text)? Or can we just like an image… without being able to follow through with the research and contextualization that supports it?