“The experience of space and time have imploded and become fused by speed. As a consequence of this implosion we are witnessing a distinct reversal of the two dimensions, a temporalisation of space and a spatialisation of time. We live increasingly in a perpetual present, flattened by speed and simultaneity, and grasped by instantaneous perceptions of the eye. The only sense that is fast enough to keep pace with the astounding increase in the technological world is sight. But the world of the eye is threatening to turn into the flat world of the present.”
Pallasmaa J, 1996, The Eyes of the Skin, Polemics, Academy Group Ltd, pp12
"A bodily reaction is an inseparable aspect of the experience of architecture. A meaningful architectural experience is not a simple series of retinal images. The ‘elements’ of architecture are not visual units or Gestalt; they are confrontations and collaborations." (Pallasmaa, 1996)
“In the electric age we wear all mankind as our skin.”
Marshall McLuhan 1964.
"Presently the interface restricts our experience. Visual simulations give us only a small window into the virtual dimension. If (visual) simulations function as convincing experiences, it is predominantly due to the phenomenon of consensual hallucinations; the participants agree to believe in the mediated illusions. The cognitively induced deception of perception is a useful phenomenon for visual simulations, but why not extend the psycho-physical relationships between the real and virtual worlds and mold deadly and sensuous phenomena into the virtual dimension? A rock thrown at you in VR is not a rock until it hits your head and hurts."
(Stenslie, 1998)
“A graphic representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights receding.”
W. Gibson. 1988
“We are entering an era of electronically extended bodies living at the intersection points of the physical and virtual worlds, of occupation and interaction through telepresence as well as through the telecommunication-induced fragmentation and recombination of traditional architectural types, and of new, soft cities that parallel, complement, and sometimes compete with our existing urban concentrations of brick, concrete and steel.”
Mitchell, W.J. City of Bits, Cambridge, Massachusetts, The MIT Press, 1995
“Her fingers found a random second stud and she was catapulted through the static-wall, into cluttered vastness, the notional void of cyberspace, the bright grid of the matrix ranged around her like an infinite cage.”
pg 56 Mona Lisa Overdrive William Gibson Grafton 1989
"Can the computer screen act as a clear-cut barrier separating cyberspace from real space, the space of mental inhabitation from the physical space of corporeality? What if the boundary is more permeable than the smooth glass finality of the screen? What if it is no longer clear where matter converts into information and information is reconfigured as matter or representation?"
(Grosz, 1997)
"We mostly operate as absent bodies. That’s because A BODY IS DESIGNED TO INTERFACE WITH ITS ENVIRONMENT – its sensors are open to the world (compared to its inadequate internal surveillance system). The body’s mobility and navigation in the world require this outward orientation. Its absence is augmented by the fact that the body functions habitually and automatically. AWARENESS IS OFTEN THAT WHICH OCCURS WHEN THE BODY MALFUNCTIONS. Reinforced by Cartesian convention, personal convenience and neuro-physiological design, people operate merely as minds, immersed in metaphysical fog."
(Stelarc, 1995)
4.7 Questions of Space
“1.2 If space is not matter, is it merely the sum of all spatial relationships between material things?
1.3 If space is neither matter nor a set of objective relations between things, is it something subjective with which the mind categorises things?
1.31 If the structure of the mind imposes an a priori form (that precedes all experience) to the perception of the external world, is space such a form?
1.32 If space is such a form, does it have precedence over all perceptions?
1.4 If, etymologically, “defining” space is both making space distinct and stating the precise nature of space, is this an essential paradox of space?
1.61 If the concept of space is not a space, is the materialisation of the concept of space a space?
1.611 Is conceptual space then the space of which material is the concept?
1.612 Incidentally, is the experience of the materialisation of the concept of space the experience of space?
2.4 If space is a basic a priori category of consciousness, independent of matter, is it an instrument of knowledge?
2.5 Is an instrument of knowledge the medium of experience?
Tschumi B, Questions of Space, 1996, Architecture and Disjunction, The MIT Press, pp53
The phenomena of virtuality and interaction may be regarded as part of a new material world. They act in parallel to the physical world as we know it so far, as an “extension” of the physicall world, as an “artificially extended habitat” whose processes, however, are not independant of the physical aspects of the places and the biology of the living bodies.”
Manzini