Ru(m)inations; A Project in San Lorenzo

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Date

1998-07-31

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Virginia Tech

Abstract

I began with a place, the Roman ruin of San Lorenzo in Milan. This place has been a "provocateur," not an object or a set of parameters from which I responded. Architectural readings of the city are contaminated with foreshadowings or hints of what is yet to appear. One may read the city as "Janus" who pulsates back and forth leaving traces of past cosmogonies which look forward to being remembered. As the "haruspex" regards the liver in order to auspiciously found a city, distinct bodies of the city are "mirrors of the world at the moment of sacrifice."

Reading the city as a Janus-faced entity suggests a slippery liminal zone between what is often clearly separated as existing and intervening. The act of drawing the site is also an act of remaking the site. The section of the city is a hieroglyph to be deciphered and "completed." This "completion" is necessary but not absolute.

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Keywords

satire, dumbwaiters, ruins, architectural drawing

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