The Love of Cities
Dualities that keep the city alive1.
"memory and forgetfulness"
I've always liked old things: old shoes, sweaters, books... there's something endearing about use. When I look at my old belongings I think of them as old friends rather than artefacts. I like the bonds I make with old cities; even in a place that is new to me I feel the kind of connection that I've failed to make in the newer, glossy places I visit. I'd never trade a walk down Haight street in San Francisco for Birch street in Brea.
"anonymity and recognizability"
It's that sidewalk cafe you've eaten at a million times, people watching. You fade into a background - a scene - and become the detached observer. It's the people you know without exchanging a name: the guy who's always sketching in his sketchbook, the girl who reads trashy gothic fiction, or you: the guy with the laptop and headphones.
"communication and silence"
I read recently that in a desert, silence shouts at you. In the city the noise muffles you into a moment of being without any single sound to focus upon. I remember eating outside in Pasadena and not remembering afterwards any single conversation, or car engine, or pedestrian shuffle. Quiet noise.
1I recently ceased to have any good ideas of my own. These thoughts are from Massimiliano Fuksas.
10:02:17 PM 
|
