DOC Dead Artists; Live Theories; and Other Cultural Problems (Cultural Studies Sociology) by Stanley Aronowitz in Arts-Photography

Description

Scale is a word which underlies much of architectural and urban design practice; its history and theory; and its technology. Its connotations have traditionally been linked with the humanities; in the sense of relating to human societies and to human form. lsquo;To build in scalersquo; is an aspiration that is usually taken for granted by most of those involved in architectural production; as well as by members of the public; yet in a world where value systems of all kinds are being questioned; the term has come under renewed scrutiny. The older; more particular; meanings in the humanities; pertaining to classical Western culture; are where the sense of scale often resides in cultural production. Scale may be traced back; ultimately; to the discovery of musical harmonies; and in the arithmetic proportional relationship of the building to its parts. One might question the continued relevance of this understanding of scale in the global world of today. What; in other words; is culturally specific about scale? And what does scale mean in a world where an intuitive; visual understanding is often undermined or superseded by other senses; or by hyper-reality? Structured thematically in three parts; this book addresses various issues of scale. The book includes an introduction which sets the scene in terms of current architectural discourse and also contains a visual essay in each section. It is of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students; academics and practitioners in architecture and architectural theory as well as to students in a range of other disciplines including art history and theory; geography; anthropology and landscape architecture.