tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post5405654202180645550..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: The First MallUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-51231140748285335132012-01-05T08:48:45.591-08:002012-01-05T08:48:45.591-08:00Does the condition of contemporary existence creep...Does the condition of contemporary existence creep ever closer to the vertiginous state of dreaming one's lost in the mall or the multiplex after closing time?<br /><br />Benjamin's curious romance with the arcades was founded in experience, research and poetic dreaming. He saw the great arcades of Paris, Berlin, Moscow and Naples as prefigurations of a global/international modernism spawned by late industrial capitalism. Their multiplying representations and semblances, he speculated, disclosed an archeological history that could be read as bearing witness to the phantasmagoria of the present. These first shopping malls, in his vision, spoke to an empty future from a cluttered past, giving voice to the collective origins of commodity fetishism by a kind of materialist ventriloquism.<br /><br /><br />Great comments here, helping to reinforce one's private reaction (queasy shudder of dread, claustrophobic suffocation) to the mere thought of mall-going.<br /><br />Esp. noted --<br /><br />places of worship when depicted like this...odd physical reaction when in malls of needing to exit asap.<br /><br />In Xanadu did Kubla Khan<br />A stately pleasure dome decree. . .<br /><br />Meanwhile, Johnny and I went to see The Adventures of Tintin at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael last week -- complete culture shock<br /><br />Beautiful and depressing and wrium<br /><br />Check out the West Edmonton Mall, grandaddy of them all!<br /><br />the architectural majesty depicted in some of these shots (the older ones reminding me of the old departed and dearly missed, at least by me, Penn Station in NYC) rivals, as Nin alludes to, some of the more impressive churches and cathedrals. I've been in some of the old European ones and a few of the modern ones here but they make me so agitated and almost dizzy I never really got a chance to appreciate the splendor and monumental aspects<br /><br />the last "shot"--a case of "shop till you drop," eh?<br /><br /><br />The references to cathedrals/places of worship were echoed here. Angelica pointed out the interesting link between Benjamin's fascination with the architecture of the arcades and his (quite emotional) involvement with the grand church architecture of the Loire valley. <br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/oiretears-in-empty-cathedral-travel.html" rel="nofollow">Walter Benjamin: Tears in the Empty Cathedral</a><br /><br />And the mall nominated by Conrad is indeed the largest on this continent. Think of the arcade concept translated to the Steppes of Alberta.<br /><br /><a href="http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/panoramas-dioramas-arcades-water-worlds.html" rel="nofollow">Panoramas, Dioramas, Arcades: Water Worlds</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61292578218806399172012-01-04T22:37:54.223-08:002012-01-04T22:37:54.223-08:00Most impressive--especially the last "shot&qu...Most impressive--especially the last "shot"--a case of "shop till you drop," eh?vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-67818844537757500802012-01-04T19:28:22.845-08:002012-01-04T19:28:22.845-08:00Fascinating and informative for me Tom. Like Nin I...Fascinating and informative for me Tom. Like Nin I hate being in these places, but the architectual majesty depicted in some of these shots (the older ones reminding me of the old departed and dearly missed, at least by me, Penn Station in NYC) rivals, as Nin alludes to, some of the more impressive churches and cathedrals. I've been in some of the old European ones and a few of the modern ones here but they make me so agitated and almost dizzy I never really got a chance to appreciate the splendor and monumental aspects of them that make them, good or bad, impressive seen this way (for the most part, the abandoned one(s) even, I've always been a fan of industrial ruins having grown up in North Jersey, as damaging as they have been and can be).Lallyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05310472614196384595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-54764167446000365492012-01-04T17:59:40.101-08:002012-01-04T17:59:40.101-08:00Check out the West Edmonton Mall, grandaddy of the...Check out the West Edmonton Mall, grandaddy of them all!Conrad DiDiodatohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18312831623791642286noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-92002078543272600142012-01-04T13:34:51.297-08:002012-01-04T13:34:51.297-08:00Beautiful and depressing and wrium.Beautiful and depressing and wrium.Robbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12312524900784740898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-68945832156598999942012-01-04T10:34:55.207-08:002012-01-04T10:34:55.207-08:00Tom,
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure ...Tom,<br /><br />In Xanadu did Kubla Khan<br />A stately pleasure dome decree. . .<br /><br />Meanwhile, Johnny and I went to see The Adventures of Tintin at the Northgate Mall in San Rafael last week -- complete culture shock ("Give me my scallop shell of quiet") any day, please). . . . <br /><br />1.4<br /><br />light coming into sky above still black<br />plane of ridge, motionless black branch<br />in foreground, wave sounding in channel<br /><br /> from which into one another,<br /> sense of before after<br /><br /> between what such, all this<br /> left, may seem simply<br /><br />grey white fog against invisible ridge,<br />pelican flapping across toward horizonSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-62706070084899517192012-01-04T09:02:37.785-08:002012-01-04T09:02:37.785-08:00Interesting how they look like places of worship w...Interesting how they look like places of worship when depicted like this. Also interesting to see that they can are actually quite attractive in photographs. I have this odd physical reaction when in malls of needing to exit asap.Nin Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12643167108589844026noreply@blogger.com