phil VII grenzen / frontiers

research

space – place | raum – ort | mesto – prostor

quotes

A place (lieu) is the order (of whatever kind) in accord with which elements are distributed in relationships of coexistence. It thus excludes the possibility of two thing being in the same location (place). The law of the ‚proper‘ rules in the place: the elements taken into consideration are beside one another, each situated in its own ‚proper‘ and distinct location, a location it defines. A place is thus an instantaneous configuration of positions. It implies an indication of stability. – De Certeau, Pg. 117.

„space is a practiced place“

maps, constituted as proper places in which to exhibit the products of knowledge, form tables of legible results. Stories about space exhibit on the contrary the operations that allow it, within a constraining and non-„proper“ place, to mingle its elements away, as one apartment-dweller put it concerning the rooms in his flat: „One can mix them up“ – De Certeau, Pg. 121.

The fas ritual is a foundation. It „provides space“ for the actions that will be undertaken; it „creates a field“ which serves as their „base“ and their „theater.“ – De Certeau, Pg. 124.

„all beauty derives from believing in myth“ – Iggy Pop

bodies can be distinguished only where the „contacts“ („touches“) of amorous or hostile struggles are inscribed on them. This is a paradox of the frontier: created by contacts, the points of differentiation between two bodies are also their common points. Of two bodies in contact, which one possesses the frontier that distinguishes them? Neither. Does that amount to saying: no one? – De Certeau, Pg. 127.

questions

• what is a space? what is a place?
• who creates borders? who breaks borders?
• is practicing language practicing space?
• aren’t maps as places obsolete? Google Maps are telling and generating stories, don’t they?
• does a space need humans in order to exist as space? do animals create spaces?
• is it possible to conserve/preserve a space – or place?
• do we have something like a fas-ritual in our culture? Marriage?
• how is art creating spaces?

material

who can create borders can remove borders

borders become b r i d g e s

literature

Michel de Certeau. The Practice of Everyday Life (L’Invention du Quotidien, translated by Steven Rendall), University of California Press : Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1988.