The Alienated City: Symptoms of the Spectacle and the Decommodified Body (By Hannah Moore, USF SACD)

THE ALIENATED

CITY: SY M P TO M S O F T H E S P E CTAC L E A N D T H E D E C O M M O D I F I E D B O DY.

HANNAH MOORE

THE ALIENATED CITY:

SY M PTO M S O F T H E S P E C TAC L E A N D T H E D E C O M M O D I F I E D B O DY.

H A N N A H

M O O R E

THESIS CHAIR Nancy Sanders, Associate Professor

PROJECT COMMITTEE Robert MacLeod, Director and Professor Steve Cooke, Associate Professor

2020-2021 A master’s research project presented to the Graduate School of Architecture and Community Design at the University of South Florida in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master’s of Architecture.

This project identifi es the characteristics of the alienated city and attempts to explain how it became that way. Industrialization and urbanization have slowly created public spaces made up of what Richard Sennett describes as a “milieu of strangers.” As technology has gotten better over time, alienation at the scale of an individual is understood through the alienation we feel from the process of making products we buy. This process led to the fetishization of commodities as objects were thought as having transcendent qualities.

The “Society of the Spectacle” describes how social life is dominated by images, furthering the alienated existence of people. The spectacle perpetuates itself and is strengthened by its continuous growth. This is true at the scale of the city as well. Cities are used as tools of investment and speculation rather than for the use of a common person.

For the alienated city to continue existing, the body is commodifi ed.

Every part of our lives are dominated by images of products and even our online existence is commodifi ed. For those people that are unable to be profi ted off of, they become decommodifi ed.

Public space is made to protect capital from the presence of the decommodifi ed body in the form of hostile, or defensive architecture. The decommodifi ed body must move through space in a specifi c way, underneath and behind, in the decommodifi ed space.

The decommodifi ed body personifi ed is represented by the displaced mannequin form. Mannequins are representations of the body and, when the mannequin is displaced from its original context it becomes the personifi cation of a decommodifi ed body as it loses its original consumerist purpose. When the mannequin artifacts are rearranged to create a new space, the distance between the pieces and their original context create a new meaning.

ABSTRACT

TABLE

OF

CONTENTS

PART ONE

The Alienated City

08

Introduction

09

The Alioid

21

Narrative Matrix

47

Warped Reality

84

PART TWO

The Decommodified Body

88

Hostile Architecture

92

Precedents

98

Diagrammatic Construct

100

Mannequin Studies

104

Hi, my name is Susan.

116

PART THREE

A New Spectacle

126

Virtual Storefront

132

Life Claw Machine

138

The Gruen Spectacle

144

Conclusion

156

List of Figures

158

Works Cited

160

PART ONE

The Alienated City Structures of power affect how space is created and how we experience that space. In my project, I am attempting to investigate the effects of our dominant power structure and then categorize the physical spaces that have resulted from it. The History of the public realm can tell us about the current state of the built environment and I want to understand public space as we know it today through a theoretical and historical lense. This project identifi es the characteristics of the alienated city and attempts to explain how it came to be and how we interact with it.

FIG. 1

In Richard Sennett’s book The Fall of Public Man, he is able to trace the transition of our society from being a public stage to a private, individualized mindset that defi nes our world today. He constructs a way to understand how as a society we have turned away from political life and involvement within the public and turned towards a highly inward facing life.

“Public space has become a derivative of movement.” Sennett explains how because the car now dominates our streets, it has caused people to experience space differently. He says, “one ceases to believe one’s surroundings have any meaning save as a means toward the end of one’s own motion” (pg 15). Our modern defi nition of space has transformed due to the car. Public space has become defi ned by an inability to experience or exist within.

We live in spaces connected by the interior of the car, hermetically sealed boxed buildings with uncrossable highways and boulevards between them.

FIG. 2

We live in spaces connected by the interior of the car, hermetically sealed boxed buildings with uncrossable highways and boulevards between them.

9

MILIEU OF STRANGERS

FIG. 3

Early 1900s crowd with identical hats, Union Square.

Our modern experience of public space is made up of what Richard Sennett describes as a “milieu of strangers.”

This emerged as a result of industrialization. Due to the increase of mechanization, especially in regards to clothing, mass-production became a way for people to eliminate social differences. A growing milieu of strangers was something that became increasingly difficult to navigate after the invention of the machine.

M YST E RY

The Dyehouse At Salt’s Mill, Saltaire, 1920. Mills like this one revolutionized the clothing industry.

Through the creation of mass-produced items in textile mills, people could conceal their class or social status more easily. This element of mystery was actually a successful selling point in department stores; “even as they became more uniform, physical goods were endowed in advertising with human qualities, made to seem tantalizing mysteries which had to be possessed to be understood.”

m a s s - p r o d u c e d

i t e m s

PA RT O N E

FIG. 4

THE ALIENATED CITY

S R EG GNARTS FO UEILIM

11

COMMODIT Y FETISHISM

FIG. 5

Barbara Kruger (1987)

This phenomena is described by Karl Marx as “commodity fetishism.” He explains that it “is the perception of certain relationships not as relationships among people, but as social relationships among things.” A change in the mental relationship people have with commodities has led to a change in the way people are existing in public space.

This idea is exemplifi ed by Barbara Kruger in her piece “I shop therefore I am.”

In this piece, Kruger is playing on the famous line “I think therefore I am” from Rene Descartes in order to show how the public is defi ned by what it owns rather than what it thinks.

COMMODIT Y FETISHISM

We perceive commodities through the lens of a social relationship and with the understanding that they can provide a metaphysical transcendence simply by possessing them. By wearing this suit he has a certain something that puts him above the rest.

THE ALIENATED CITY

His clothing gives him social clout.

PA RT O N E

META P H YSICAL

T R A NSCENDENC E

FIG. 6

13

Buick assembly line increased the productivity of factories (1950).

A L I E N AT I O N

M A R X ’ S T H E O R Y O F A L I E N AT I O N FIG. 7

According to Marx’s theory of alienation, the alienation we feel as consumers comes from the distance we have from the process of making the products we buy. Workers are also alienated from the products they make as they do not have ownership of those products or any say in how they are made.

I N C R E A S I N GL Y A L I E N A T E D

FIG. 8

The women’s section of Harrods, London, the world’s oldest department store, in 1919.

With the creation of department stores in the early 1900s, people were increasingly alienated from the process of making the products that they bought. People were buying things for the fi rst time based purely on the aesthetics of the object rather than out of necessity. Objects were also losing the evidence of their manufacture. This is when consumers were beginning to be alienated as individuals.

15

FIG. 9

Times Square in New York City is the perfect representation of the spectacle dominating our lives.

Marx’s theory of alienation and commodity fetishism updated for the age of television and fi lm advertising is Guy Debord’s “society of the spectacle.”

He states that authentic social life has been replaced by a representation.

He goes further than Marx to explain how the commodity is not merely fetishized, but it has colonized all of social life. The spectacle describes how social relationships between people are brought about by images. It is within every aspect of our reality.

We experience an endless supply of commodifi able fragments. The spectacle perpetuates itself and continuously reinforces its conditions of isolation of the “lonely crowds” that make up our world. You can think of the spectacle as the next sequence of evolution in a continuous progression.

PA RT O N E

Marx’s theory of alienation goes further than just the experience of people as consumers. He describes the broad sense of alienation that we feel as a society due to the separation from our human nature. This comes from the stratifi ed social classes that make up our society. According to Marx, people are unable to determine their destiny or direct their lives with full autonomy within the capitalist mode of production as their productivity is so closely monitored. This monitoring of productivity has only gotten worse with time. Since 1979, the gap between productivity and a typical worker’s hourly compensation has increased dramatically. To me, this has worsened the encroachment on the autonomy of workers even more.

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 10

17

All of this adds up to what we have today: alienation at the scale of the city. The alienated city occurs because of the constant growth required to sustain capital and, according to david harvey, the right to transform cities is only given to capital. The space people live in is used as a tool for speculation and profi t rather than enrichment of the lives of ordinary people.

For example, Luxury condos in New York like the ones pictured remain about 25% empty.

FIG. 11

FIG. 12

FIG. 13

A TO O L F O R S P E C U L AT I O N

I

E

N

A

T

I

O

N

University blvd in Jacksonville, FL.

After studying history I fi nd that I have the tools to explain what’s wrong with the urban spaces around me. I fi nd the qualities of alienation within my everyday life, as I travel through the spaces of the city. The physical space we live in only intensifi es this feeling of alienation that separates us from one another.

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 14

L

PA RT O N E

A

19

After my extensive research of the history of the public realm, I understand why and how we have created cities full of alienation.

Consumerism has affected us so deeply that it has changed our relationships with each other and our relationships we have with the space around us. I realized that to explore the alienated city, I had to investigate it further. This is a huge turning point in the course of my project as I begin to create drawings and objects in response to the fi ndings of my research. Instead of researching history and theory, I begin to research and catalog my own observations.

The physical spaces that make up the alienated city will be the focus of my project. I invented a word to describe this context as a monolith:

ALIOID

(alee-oid) An amalgamation of decommodified spaces that are abandoned, leftover or forgotten.

01 The Behind 02 The Underneath 03 The Inverted 04 The Fractured 05 The Circumscribed

THE ALIENATED CITY

06 The Boundless

PA RT O N E

How can I begin to describe the alioid? Our cities are made up of an infinite combination of commodified and decommodified spaces.

Through my own life experience and observations of the world around me, there emerged 6 categories to describe and identify the alioid.

Those categories are:

21

THE BEHIND

01

FIG. 15

The back of an empty strip mall in Jacksonville, FL.

FIG. 16

Behind La Mexicana Latin in Tampa, FL.

A series of photographs began to reveal the unseen world that exists behind the monolithic storefront. The artifi cial storefront hides the hidden, neglected, the discarded and the overgrown. Sometimes they are highways for goods and people, deliveries and employees. They can also be empty, forgotten places.

The back of a convenience store in Jacksonville, FL.

FIG. 18

Behind La Mexicana Latin in Tampa, FL.

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 17

23

THE BEHIND 01

FIG. 19

What is behind the artifi cial storefront?

The hidden and neglected.

Discarded and overgrown..

The illusion of upkeep and rigidity falls away, curtain pulled back.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 19

In this drawing, I collaged my original photographs of the backs of storefronts from both Tampa and Jacksonville. The photographs could be from anywhere, ubiquitous in their emptiness. I created lines connecting the photos to create a new Behind. This drawing is meant to show the metaphysical qualities of this alienation space. The intangible nature of these ignored spaces can be found in this drawing. The uncanny and unsettling attributes are spatialized through this representation.

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 19

25

THE UNDERNEATH

02

This underpass was the site of a small community with rules and a democratically elected leader. FIG. 20

FIG. 21

Underneath overpasses provide protection for those that live outside. It is a shelter for those that have none. A shelter from the elements, from authorities, from harm, and from theft.

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 22

27

FIG. 23

THE UNDERNEATH THE UNDERNEATH THE UNDERNEATH

02

Protection from the elements, Protection from authorities, Protection from harm, Protection from theft.

Shelter in the leftover.

Under the overlooked overpass.

In the underneath, the symptoms of alienation are revealed through the presence of the unwanted. Homeless people and nomads take shelter underneath the overpasses. If you cannot see anyone, there is often evidence of their occupation.

Sleeping bags, graffiti, and trash are all signs of the secret life that goes on below. These spaces are like points of connection for people that have no where else to go. This drawing combines the found images of these spaces to create a new space. I combined the existing imagery to make a new image of a connective and infinite space. Just like the infinite highways and overlapping overpasses that we find in the alienated city, this drawing shows a never-ending, interconnected space. It indicates a new way of seeing the ordinary structures we pass by inside of our cars.

The underneath was never meant to house anyone, the leftover spaces created by the structure was an unintended consequence. Reality is expressed in a new way in this drawing of the underneath space, perspective is flipped and gravity undetectable.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 23

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 23

29

D E TR E V N I E H T THE INVERTED

FIG. 25

03

FIG. 24

An empty store in Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, FL.

FIG. 26

The inverted describes the reinvention of a program in order to sustain a place’s survival. The shopping mall is a dying archetype with many falling into disrepair. All over the country they are being reimaged, or inverted, in order to survive.

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

A library for the blind in Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, FL. FIG. 27 htiw epytehcra gniyd a si llam gnippohs ehT .lavivrus s’ecalp a niatsus ot redro ni margorp a fo noitnevnier eht sebircsed detrevni ehT .evivrus ot redro ni ,detrevni ro ,degamier gnieb era yeht yrtnuoc eht revo llA .riapersid otni gnillaf ynam

31

FIG. 28

THE INVERTED 03 Programs are turned inside out and upside down - inverted.

A shopping mall now has a church, a dentist, a library.

The commercial function falls away.

The image of the place is inverted.

Function reborn.

I went to my local mall, Regency Square Mall in Jacksonville, FL, and discovered what it had become. It was once one of the most popular malls in the country, but now it is mostly empty and going through a period of transition in order to survive. Walking through the empty passageways is a strange and isolating experience. Smooth jazz plays from speakers overhead and very few people are there. The new additions to the mall are inverting the consumerist program. A new megachurch takes the place of a long-dead department store and countless stores are empty, collecting dust and locked up.

The purpose of the mall is inverted. This drawing uses the images of the mall to show how it has become a strange and inverted place. You cannot help but to feel like the world has been turned upside down and space overlaps onto itself.

PA RT O N E

The American shopping mall used to be a hub of activity and the epicenter for gatherings. The consumerist landscape was a symbol of American culture. I remember when the mall was the place to be. However, now all over the country, malls are falling apart.

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 28

33

THE FRACTURED FIG. 29

An empty parking lot with empty stores in Jacksonville, FL.

The fractured consists of Great expanses of unused empty space. They are so out of use that they have no one to upkeep them.

The passing of time is obvious by looking at the fractures in the concrete.

04

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 31

The empty parking lot for what was once a Kmart. Jacksonville, FL.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 30

35

T H E

F R A C T U R E D

04

FIG. 32

Fractured spaces are void of activity, program and use. These empty parking lots and strip malls have treacherously large cracks in the paving and have overgrown patches of weeds climbing the walls.

This drawing uses collage and linework to connect these fractured spaces in a fractured way. The lines break up the images and rearrange them in a new way in order to create a metaphysical space. The uncomfortable and disjointed feeling of being in these huge areas with nothing in them is replicated through the fractured nature of the drawing. There is an emptiness to this drawing that the others do not have. This emptiness refl ects the actual emptiness of the parking lots.

One might imagine how to move through a space such as this one. It would be impossible to feel comfortable relaxing and doing something like having a picnic. The cracks are too large and the sun is too hot.

Endless and meaningless. Function destroyed.

Void

PA RT O N E

Empty space, cracked, crumbling.

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 32

37

THE CIRCUMSCRIBED

Planters block casual seating in James Weldon Johnson Park in Jacksonville, FL.

FIG. 33

A detailed image showing the planters bolted to the seating.

FIG. 34

The circumscribed is defi ned by growing limitations on use, blocked off paths, and control of behavior.

Strict rules and guidelines. Public space controlled by private interests. Space is circumscribed, marked off and defi ned clearly.

05

P U B L I C S PAC E C O N T R O L L E D

BY P R I VAT E I N T E R E STS

THE ALIENATED CITY

A fi ctitous sign that demonstrates the strict rules in place.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 35

39

05 THE CIRCUMSCRIBED FIG. 36

cir·cum·scribe verb past tense: circumscribed; past participle: circumscribed Definition: restrict (something) within limits. “their movements were strictly monitored and circumscribed”

Space surrounds the body.

It is defi ned clearly around the body and between other bodies in the fi eld.

Movement through space draws a line, creates a boundary.

This drawing creates a new set of boundaries. These new boundaries made up of the lines I drew, rather than structures created to obstruct.

THE ALIENATED CITY

In these drawings I took imagery of the structures that are used to create boundaries, or circumscribe space, and used them to circumscribe a new space in a new reality. This drawing created a new space in which new possibilities are created. The images were taken of present day James Weldon Johnson Park and the countless boundaries that were put in place slowly over time. I also used images showing the park when it was called Hemming Park, when people had more freedom to use the park with less boundaries.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 36

41

THE BOUNDLESS

FIG. 37

A rainy day driving on University blvd in Jacksonville, FL.

The boundless is common to all of us, endless boulevards are viewed from the car window and designed without any consideration for walkability. The proportions of the street width and amount of sidewalk space alienate pedestrians and create a dependence on the car.

06

43

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

06

FIG. 38

T H E BOUND L E

FIG. 38

S S

Endless boulevards bordered by commercial interests spread and connect and sprawl through cities creating a never-ending spectacle experienced through the car window.

This drawing is like a dynamic datum line that transforms as you read it from left to right. It culminates in an explosion of abstract forms that indicate the confusion and alienation of the experience within the Boundless.

THE ALIENATED CITY

This long drawing of the Boundless is meant to mimic the endless journey we take on a daily basis through the streets in the alienated city. The way that we travel through the city is within our isolated cars and we only see identical expanses of boundless boulevards. I took images while driving on major streets in Jacksonville, FL and extracted the major landmarks to include in the drawing. These landmarks included countless billboards and street lights. The buildings that defi ne the edges of the boundless boulevards are identical boxes without signifi cant markings to tell them apart.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 38

45

W H AT ’ S N E X T ?

N A R R AT I V E M AT R I X After identifying these six categories I wanted to further explore each one. While I was creating the collage and line drawings for the six categories, I realized that each one began to create a new world. The metaphysical qualities of each real space was represented in the drawings. This means that the drawings represented a world outside of reality. A new reality in which the qualities of the alienated city are isolated and put under a microscope.

In order to understand the worlds that I created, I merged the descriptive collage drawings I created with a narrative framework to create a new milieu.

In this narrative matrix (the new milieu) you begin to understand and see the alioid through the context of a new world, one outside of reality. The narrative is made up of imaginary characters moving through familiar spaces. I chose this method of using narratives and illustration because it provides a new perspective for the common images we have grown accustomed to. Using characters and dialogue, the worlds can come to life in a way that the collages couldn’t accomplish. Each category is explored by my characters and I like to imagine that each story overlaps with the other ones in an endless loop.

The narrative matrix is a grid of comics about the alienated city. They are laid out in this grid format because the alienated city is made up of each category as an amalgamation. The alioid cannot exist without all parts that make it up; it needs each category to exist together in an imperfect harmony.

47

N A R R AT I V E M AT R I X

FIG. 39

The complexity of the Narrative Matrix is meant to show how the story of the alienated city is interrelated. These qualities and spaces are explored in the next set of pages as a series of slides that show how the story unfolds scene by scene.

THE ALIENATED CITY

These zoomed in images of the narrative matrix reveal new details of the windows into the new milieu.

A N E W M I L I E U

PA RT O N E

FIG. 39

49

30° 17’ 37” N 81 ° 36’ 03” W

We enter the narrative to find a young couple strolling through an empty parking lot.

27

30° 17’ 37” N 81 ° 36’ 03” W

They decide to have a picnic in the parking lot. What else is there to do?

28

51

30° 19’ 42” N 81 ° 36’ 10” W

But they have to be mindful of where they step.

29

30° 19’ 42” N 81 ° 36’ 10” W

The ground is fractured and crumbling.

3 0

53

30° 17’ 37” N 81 ° 36’ 03” W

When people picnic in the parking lot, the landscape is transformed. A matrix overlaid onto the surface.

3 1

30° 17’ 37” N 81 ° 36’ 03” W

It creates a new function for a formless space.

3 2

55

30° 17’ 37” N 81 ° 36’ 03” W

Structure is added to the fractured, and the alioid leaks out of the cracks.

3 3

The businessman walks past a storefront, they are everywhere, lining the streets.

3 4

57

Exhibiting mind control tactics as he walks past.

3 5

Reaching into his psyche as he gets closer.

3 6

59

But when he turns the corner, the illusion falls away.

3 7

The curtain is pulled back and the artifice is revealed.

3 8

61

A new world of possibilities uncovered.

3 9

We travel to a new site, a dying shopping mall. What was once a bustling center of commerce, now holds empty stores and some unconventional occupants. Like a library for the blind and a dentist’s office.

4 0

63

It makes you wonder, is the candy stale? What is she looking at? Will they ever fix this hole in the ceiling? Maybe they’ll keep it. When it rains, the crab catches the drops.

4 1

If you stare up into the dark emptiness of the hole, you wonder what it leads to.

4 2

65

What if you could reach up, and pull yourself in. the hole is a portal. An entrance,

4 3

Into the alioid.

4 4

67

You could explore the endless expanse for years

4 5

The massive, sprawling shopping mall is hard to contain. But what if the shopping mall could fit inside a box? The pieces shrunk down and rearranged, stretched, squeezed, flipped, twisted, and turned. What would it look like?

4 6

69

The image could be inverted. Space could exist inside the box, overlapping and coinciding, colliding.

4 7

The box could be turned, shaken, turned again. Reimagined space, deconstructed and broken.

4 8

71

To continue on our journey... If we travel to a privately owned public park, we need to ask the question: what is hostile architecture? It can be spikes, an extra armrest, or even boulders. A funky modern bench, music that’s too loud. A skateboard-blocking bump, no seats at all or a bar made for leaning. Keep out signs and locked gates are outright hostility. What if things could be different?

4 9

Locked gates withhold potential.

5 0

73

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Boundaries opened and redefined, rearranged to circumscribe space. Creates opportunities rather than blocking them.

5 1

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

On a common overpass, space is exposed, movement is continuous and boundless.

5 2

75

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

If you leave the main path, be careful. You could fall underneath and find yourself under the underpass.

5 3

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Underneath the underpass is the leftover, the unexpected shelter.

5 4

77

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Above ground, riding in a car. If you aren’t the driver what better way to pass the time than to stare out of the window. What do you see?

5 5

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Expanses, expanding.

5 6

79

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Endless boulevards spreading and connecting and sprawling through the city, creating a never ending spectacle.

5 7

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

BORDERS CONTROL THE BOUNDLESS

Borders begin to control the boundless. Expanding within edges and filling in the emptiness.

5 8

[end] 81

FIG. 40

A handheld lens allows you to travel with the lens.

FIG. 42

After creating this new milieu that abstractly touches on the idea of the alioid, I wanted to make something that can be experienced at a one to one scale, something that functions as a lens that could allow you to see the alioid clearly. This translucent and refl ective lens is a “warped reality lens.” Something that obscures the vision and makes you see the world differently as you interact with it.

This object was a way of beginning the process of translating my narrative matrix back into the physcial world.

PA RT O N E

FIG. 41

THE ALIENATED CITY

WARPED REALITY LENS

83

FIG. 43

WARPED REALITY LENS When you look through this lens, reality transforms in front of your eyes. The alioid clarifi es into view. If you stare through the lens long enough, you can glimpse a new reality, a warped one. A reality that can show you the alioid.

85

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

FIG. 44

WARPED REALITY LENS Images are fed into the surface of the lens and shapeshift. New spaces are created.

87

PA RT O N E

THE ALIENATED CITY

THE ALIENATED CITY FIG. 45

PA RT O N E

You can see the dense world that is held within the lens. It transports you. The lens is at the scale of the body and it changes how you experience space. Creating this object that requires the participation of the body made me want to further explore how the body moves through the space of the alioid.

89

FIG. 46

This storyboard is about the alienation we feel inside our lonely cars traveling through the alienated city.

PART TWO

The Decommodified Body

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

In part two, I explore the relationship of the body to the alienated city and how we experience space. This drawing illustrates how we can experience loneliness in densely packed spaces through the anonymous shells of cars. We are under constant surveillance; our phones track us, street cameras record our movements, and our information from online activity is sold. All of this surveillance holds the spectacle in place and commodifies our very existence. The spectacle watches us and feeds itself. But what happens to the people that are unable to be profited off of, like the homeless? They become decommodified.

91

H O ST I L E A R C H I T ECT U R E H O ST I L E A R C H I T E CT U R E

FIG. 47

FIG. 48

Spikes prevent laying down or sitting.

The armrests are ineffective but prevent laying down.

Decommodifi ed people are targeted through the built environment in the form of hostile architecture. It is built to control behavior within public space and to protect capital, usually it is meant to keep certain people out or away from public places, especially homeless people. Instead of acknowledging the structural problems that lead people to become homeless or remain homeless, hostile architecture is meant to hide the existence of the problem from sight. The examples of hostile architecture can be quite obvious, like these preventative spikes or excessive armrests.

It can also be more subtle like blocking what was once seating with planters.

PA RT T WO

FIG. 49

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

HOSTILE

93

-ta lareneg s’yteicos ruo fo re ifingis lausiv a si erutcetihcra elitsoh elihW -imirc a sa ti yfidilos taht swal era ereht ,elpoep sselemoh sdrawot edutit -ni evah gnillewd- elcihev tsniaga swal ,sraey 31 tsap eht nI .ytivitca lan evah sroodtuo gnipmac tsniaga swal ,6002 ecniS .%312 yb desaerc tibihorp ot dessap swal wen 54 neeb evah ereht dna %29 yb desaercni -av ro ,gn ifaol ,gniretiol nab ot swal swen 33 dna nwod gniyl ro gnittis derrucco sselemoh eht fo noitazilanimirc siht fo noitartsulli lariv A .ycnarg susej fo erutplucs eznorb a dellatsni oihO ni hcruhc a nehw raey tsal -nim ytnewt koot ylno ti ,syas teewt eht sa dna - hcneb krap a no gnipeels elpoeP .eutats eznorb eht no spoc eht dellac evah ot enoemos rof setu .elcatceps eht dlohpu ot rewop fo serutcurts ot nrut

PA RT T WO

While hostile architecture is a visual signifi er of our society’s general attitude towards homeless people, there are laws that solidify it as a criminal activity. In the past 13 years, laws against vehicle-dwelling have increased by 213%. Since 2006, laws against camping outdoors have increased by 92% and there have been 45 new laws passed to prohibit sitting or lying down and 33 news laws to ban loitering, loafi ng, or vagrancy. A viral illustration of this criminalization of the homeless occurred in 2020 when a church in Ohio installed a bronze sculpture of jesus sleeping on a park bench - and as the tweet says, it only took twenty minutes for someone to have called the cops on the bronze statue. People turn to structures of power to uphold the spectacle.

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

FIG. 50

95

C O M M O D I F I C AT I O N O F T H E B O DY

FIG. 51

Full of signs and metaphor, this drawing is meant to illustrate a specifi c point about how inescapable the commodifi cation of the body can be.

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

This drawing shows the all seeing eye of the unstoppable system that is perpetuating this cycle watching over the conveyor belt. The conveyor belt creates commodifi ed people and the seeing eye ensures that decommodifi ed people are delivered back to the belt.

PA RT T WO

This increase in criminalization of homelessness brings to light the cyclical nature of the process of decommodifi cation and the subsequent recommodifi cation of the body. The criminalization of the decommodifi ed body is what can then begin the process of recommodifying a body. Since private prisons make money off of the bodies they are incarcerating, bodies are recommodifi ed after they are arrested.

97

PRECEDENTS

FIG. 52

Homeless Projections. (1986-1987)

FIG. 53

The Mouthpiece. (1986-1987)

The work of Krzysztof Wodiczko touches on the issue of homelessness in his “Homeless projections”, in which he projects symbols of the injured onto large statues in order to draw attention to the often ignored bodies that live in the streets. He also uses the scale of the body in other projects, like “the mouthpiece” which uses audio and video components to comment on the lack of voice an immigrant has.

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

Another precedent I found that deals with the scale of the body are these Archisuits by Sarah Ross: “These suits are worn in direct defi ance to defensive, or hostile architecture. By wearing them, the body can change the way it interacts with its environment. The wearer becomes free to move around and interact with hostile public space “

PA RT T WO

FIG. 54

99

DIAG GRR A M M AT I C D I A GR A M M AT I C FIG. 56

FIG. 55

FIG. 57

This idea of the decommodifi ed body made me want to explore the different ways that it moves through space. The decommodifi ed body moves through the in between space, the underneath, the behind. The back of the house, the forgotten crevices. They move through the alioid. This model is a diagrammatic and spatial exploration of the relationship between the decommodifi ed body and the context in which it exists, the alioid.

The different colors show the dynamic itinerary of the body’s path in space and the multitude of different kinds of decommodifi ed bodies that interact and exist together.

d e co mmo d if ie d b o d ies

FIG. 58

Aerial view.

ALIOID

FIG. 61

An eye level view allows one to imagine being within.

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

FIG. 60

An elevation view.

PA RT T WO

FIG. 59

101

FIG. 62

Images of the model are used to generate spaces that place us within the alioid that the decommodified body moves and carves through. Scale is imposed upon the model in order to understand this spatial relationship of the body to the alioid.

103

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

This relationship of the body to the alioid led me to begin an investigation of the mannequin as an artifact.The mannequin is the ultimate representation of the commodifi cation of the body as the human form is personifi ed in order to sell consumer goods.

MANNEQUIN AS ARTIFACT Some of the fi rst mannequins in the mid-19th century were used to mimic domestic settings inside their window displays rather than just showing practicality and price of the goods. This image shows the precise realism that was used at the time inside window displays.

FIG. 63

This extravagant 1928 window display for Atwater Kent radios shows the heightened realism of many mannequins following World War I.

C U LT U R A L

I N D I C AT O R

1950s department store mannequin is smiling cheerily.

PA RT T WO

FIG. 64

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

Over time, it is evident that The forms and the exact size and shape of mannequins are used to refl ect the cultural attitudes of the time. For example, at the end of the second world war, “As troops return home in 1945, the fullfi gured, voluptuous mannequin – along with its smile – returns.”

105

FIG. 65

Lester Gaba and Cynthia Mannequin, Broadhurst Theater in NY at Madame Bovary, 1939.

Because of this direct link with cultural attitudes and often uncanny realism, mannequins are often anthropomorphized to the extreme. In 1939, the sculptor Lester Gaba created the lifelike Cynthia mannequin and treated her like a real woman, bringing her out into society on public dates. Gossip columnists even began to talk about her as if she was living and breathing. There are many other examples of the anthropomorphizing of mannequin forms.

FIG. 66

Rod Serling posing in front of the still mannequins that come to life in the Twilight Zone episode,“The After Hours.”

In fi lms and television this is a recurring idea. Some examples are the twilight zone episode “the after hours” in which all of the mannequins in a department store come to life when the store closes, and take turns experiencing life on the outside

ANTHROPOMORPHIZE ANTHROPOMORPHIZE

FIG. 67

And one example from my childhood, the movie “life size” starring Tyra Banks as a doll that comes to life to help the young Lindsay Lohan.

PA RT T WO

FIG. 68

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

Another example is the 1987 movie titled “mannequin” depicting an artist that falls in love with his own creation as she comes to life for his eyes only.

107

MANNEQUIN D I S P L A C E M E N T The cultural signifi cance of the mannequin and the experience of the body in alioid space led me to wonder what happens when mannequins are displaced from their commodifi ed purpose, when they are decommodifi ed. Since mannequins are representations of the body, when the mannequin is displaced from its original context it becomes the ultimate personifi cation of a decommodifi ed body as it loses its original consumerist purpose.

FIG. 69

Mannequins at an old Brooks Brothers warehouse in Enfi eld, Conn.

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

When the mannequin artifacts are rearranged to create a new space, the distance between the pieces and their original context create a new meaning. I created drawings to begin exploring what this displacement can mean spatially.

FIG. 70

109

?

FIG. 70

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY PA RT T WO

Th e d i s p l a c e d m a n n e q u i n c a n m ove t h ro u g h t h e alioid space because of its new shape.

111

FIG. 71

The mannequin hand reaches.

The hand is positioned in a way that allows the viewer to project an emotional and almost anthropomorphized tone onto the object.

PA RT T WO

This was my first attempt at working with the actual pieces of my mannequins and I wanted the armature of linear pieces to function as a method of sketching in three dimensions.

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

Using the actual pieces of displaced mannequins, I began the process of mannequin reconfiguration with the ruins of a mannequin by repositioning it in space with an armature made of linear pieces.

113

FIG. 72

FIG. 73

FIG. 74

FIG. 75

The next artifacts have a dialogue with each other as the space between them holds a new tension. Silicone molds were made from discarded hands and resin was poured into the molds.

The hands were placed into a wood context with traces of their shape carved into the material. The clear resin represents the ephemerality of the associative space as it only exists as the body passes through space.

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

These pieces have a more harmonious relationship with armature and artifact. The armature is able to hold the mannequin artifacts and they have an ability to spatially communicate with one another depending on where they are placed. They create new meanings through their proximities and associations.

115

h i , my n a m e i s s u s a n .

FIG. 76

Hi, my name is susan. The smaller scale investigations led to the birth of a new life form. Susan is a life size personification of the discarded artifacts of consumerism. Her decommodified body parts are playfully deconstructed and rearranged so that she can move seamlessly through the alioid.

FIG. 77

Susan has no armature. She is the artifact and armature all in one. She is dancing with herself through my garage. She leaves impressions with her limbs onto the linear pieces that hold her up.

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

Her whimsical shape begins to create a personality. When you stare at her too long, it might appear that she can actually move.

What if Susan really is alive?

117

Her limbs leave traces in the structure and she moves gracefully through the alioid.

FIG. 78

119

PA RT T WO

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY

8 6

Somehow she was there all along. Watching...

8 7

This is her neighborhood. Spaces of alienation, the alioid.

121

8 8

She lives in the alioid. Her decommodified form fits right in.

8 9

She can disrupt its structure while holding it in place.

123

9 0

She can diffuse space while holding it together.

9 1

Overlapping space that is falling apart is perfect for her.

125

FIG. 79

[end of part 2]

THE DECOMMODIFIED BODY PA RT T WO

Her uncanny form is unnerving and familiar. She delights viewers while disturbing them. She fi ts right into the allioid space with her decommodifi ed form just as decommodifi ed people, like the homeless, disappear from the eye of our society. But Susan is an all terrain mannequin, she is suited for her environment and she cannot be contained in one place. Susan brings to light the importance of acknowledging the way that decommodifi ed people are treated and ignored. After creating these new worlds for susan through narrative drawings, I wanted to zoom back out to look at the experience of space using a new and tangible medium.

127 9 2

PART THREE

A New Spectacle I decided on creating dioramas for the next part of my project because the creation of a spectacle in 3d gives them a significance that drawings don’t have. The first precedent are the diorama artists and photographers lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber. Their project called “the city” depicts realistic scenes as if they were abandoned for many years. Another example was created by Mohamad Hafez in his project “Unpacked: Refugee Baggage,” where he created scenes within the confines of luggage that show the destruction of Syria. They are a powerful way to capture the magnitude of the devastation.

PRECEDENTS

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber “The City”

FIG. 81

Mohamad Hafez “Unpacked: Refugee Baggage”

PA RT T H R E E

A NEW SPECTACLE

FIG. 80

129

The Gruen Spectacle FIG. 82

The Virtual Storefront

The Life Claw Machine

The experience boxes sitting together on my desk.

This part of the project consists of three dioramas called experience boxes. The boxes are caricatures of a new spectacle, dioramas of an augmented reality. They are like puppet stages without any puppets. Links between the inanimate and animate, between real and imagined. Portals to new realities.

131

PA RT T H R E E

A NEW SPECTACLE

T H E STO R E F R O N T

FIG. 83

Children transfi xed by the Macy’s holiday window display in the 1910s.

FIG. 84

1950s Palm Beach Suits for Men at Selfridges Department Store.

PA RT T H R E E

Display window decoration was emerging as an aesthetic phenomena with carefully described criteria. People were being trained on how to “paint with beautiful objects.” In 1909, window display creation was so important that they held the first of three Greater Berlin Display Window Competitions. Due to this competition, a previously enforced prohibition on the display of merchandise on sundays was lifted. This is a huge turning point in history because “The stained-glass windows of church were put in direct competition with “cathedrals of consumption.” The dominant structure of power had begun to shift.

A NEW SPECTACLE

The spectacle of the first box is about the power of the storefront. A writer named Jean-Louis Sponsel spoke about how the city was changing due to persistent advertising. He said, “The modern metropolis itself could be considered a public museum in which the entire urban throng was a potential audience” (1897). The very fabric of cities is changing during the late 1800s due to industrialization and the growing obsession with goods. Another writer, Leo Colze considered “illuminated arcade(s) of merchandise lining the boulevards to be an endless assault on selfrestraint.”

133

FIG. 85

“ T H E V I RT UA L STO R E F R O N T ”

The experience box is like a stage set, a setting for the acting out of a new spectacle.

PA RT T H R E E

The fi rst box I created shows the newest evolution of the spectacle, the virtual storefront.. The alienation of a life online is represented as an experience room. The all encompassing spectacle and entanglement our lives have with the virtual is given physicality with texture, color and form.The lights and refl ective surfaces create a phantasmagorical effect that reinforces that the experience box exists outside of our reality and fi ts into its own.

A NEW SPECTACLE

FIG. 86

135

FIG. 87

FIG. 88

The boxes are a spectacle in themselves. In order to see the spectacle of the virtual world full of advertisements and media, the experience box spectacle creates an imaginary setting. Within this setting we can see a refl ection of the world we live in.

PA RT T H R E E

setting we can see a refl ection of the world we live in. advertisements and media, the experience box spectacle creates an imaginary setting. Within this The boxes are a spectacle in themselves. In order to see the spectacle of the virtual world full of

A NEW SPECTACLE

We are always plugged into the virtual storefront. It follows us everywhere. It lives in our pockets.

137

C L A W T H E

FIG. 89

FIG. 90

The Erie Digger

1950s Palm Beach Suits for Men at Selfridges Department Store.

The next box is about the arcade game spectacle, the claw machine. It is a game all of us have tried to play at least once, the hypnotic interaction between player and claw has been going on for nearly 100 years. One of the first versions of this classic arcade game was called the Erie Digger.

The Erie, which was named after the equipment used to build the Erie Canal, allowed players to operate a steam shovel that swung around in a wide arc.

PA RT T H R E E

A NEW SPECTACLE

Starting in 1951, the machines were regulated as gambling devices, with many machines actually being destroyed by the FBI, but in 1974, those regulations were relaxed... Today, the machines have customizable programming in order to change the claws grabbing strength and increase the probability of dropping the prize before it reaches the shute.

The machines are rigged just enough to keep us coming back.

139

FIG. 92

“ L I F E C L AW MACHINE” FIG. 91

The second experience box is the “life claw machine” A classic arcade game that is always rigged. Only a few lucky players can win. It is a metaphor for how life works as there is no fair way for everyone to succeed.

PA RT T H R E E

The discarded hand reaches up towards the claw, the claw reaches back. Rusted and worn the claw no longer functions but it still reaches. The life claw machine is a window into a world of smoke and mirrors and spectacle. The hand rests idly surrounded by other discarded objects. What the claw machine offers as a prize is actually trash, not treasures.

A NEW SPECTACLE

FIG. 93

141

The toy that the child wants can almost certainly never be retrieved. The claw is inoperable and stiff, and the toy is glued down.

FIG. 94

143

PA RT T H R E E

A NEW SPECTACLE

THE GRUEN EFFECT

FIG. 95

Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota. The fi rst indoor, climate-controlled shopping center. Opened in 1956.

GR U E N FIG. 96

Mean Girls (2004) “Get in loser, we’re going shopping!”

Superbad (2007)

The third box is a tribute to the all encompassing spectacle invented by Victor Gruen for the first American shopping mall. His original intentions when designing the building type was to lessen the need for cars by putting everything people needed in one place. They were supposed to be mixed-use buildings with apartments and offices, medical centers and have child-care and libraries. (and bomb shelters). So that people never needed to leave.

PA RT T H R E E

A NEW SPECTACLE

What instead resulted from Gruen’s designs was an all encompassing spectacle for the sole purpose of compulsive consumption. A typology that Americans fell in love with, There are over 100,000 malls across the US. It was the cool place to hang out and appeared in countless popular movies.

145

FIG. 97

“ T H E GR U E N S P E CTAC L E ”

HERMETICALLY SEALED

FIG. 99 A NEW SPECTACLE

FIG. 98

The lights disorient you, what time is it?

There’s no way of knowing. The reflective surfaces confuse your orientation, The plants are fake but wilting.

You are stuck in time but it still passes around you.

The gruen box is a fixed time capsule and a fantastic realm, it is a hermetically sealed toxic prison.

PA RT T H R E E

M E LT I N G G

“The gruen spectacle” draws you in with its bright colors and modern interior. You can stay all day and walk the halls.

The paint is melting but still vibrant.

147

But have you ever thought about living in the mall?

In 2003, In the Providence Place Mall, Artist Michael Townsend secretly moved into a leftover space in the mall after developers destroyed his previous residence.They turned the 750 square foot space into an apartment and lived there full time for four years before being discovered by mall security. The apartment was only accessible through a completely dark two foot wide passageway that was open to the outside.

FIG. 100

Providence Place Mall.

FIG. 101

Townsend relaxing with his friends in the secret mall apartment.

PA RT T H R E E

FIG. 102

A NEW SPECTACLE

the gruen spectacle might have an apartment inside if we thought to look.

149

A slice into the wall that leads somewhere else.

FIG. 103

A portal that entices the adventurous to explore

A NEW SPECTACLE

FIG. 105

PA RT T H R E E

FIG. 104

151

FIG. 106

A NEW SPECTACLE PA RT T H R E E

Where does it lead? Who lives inside?

153

Well susan of course. A susan making factory churning them out, fully equipped with four wheel drive.

FIG. 107

155

Throughout history, feelings of alienation have steadily increased due to the process of industrialization and the increase of the importance of consumerism in our society. We can learn a lot from the writings of Karl Marx and Guy Debord about how our relationships with objects and advertising is changing the way we think and act. All of these developments in our world have had their effect on our public spaces and how we move inside of them. Alienation permeates through the very ground we walk on.

The alienated city is made up of alioid space and the alioid space is what continues to keep our city alienated. It is a self-perpetuating cycle. I cataloged and described different kinds of alienated spatial archetypes and folded them onto themselves in order to insert a new way of looking at them. Instead of driving past an overpass and forgetting about it instantly, my hope is that a new consideration for the possibilities of what can happen comes to mind. By photographing, collecting images of these spaces and creating collage drawings they can be seen in a new light.

Within the scaleless world of the collage drawings, the introduction of new characters brought the alioid space to life. New possibilities of occupation were created and the narrative matrix was born. Instead of a milieu of strangers, the narrative matrix is a new milieu that makes fun of our alienated city. The characters live in the spaces in a different way, they move through it in impossible directions, and they see things that are not there. It is important to imagine beyond what is possible to believe in a way to change the world around us.

Injustices in our society, like letting our fellow man sleep on the streets and punishing those unlucky enough to be forced to do so, is a direct result of the alienation that keeps us from understanding one another. The alienated city therefore produces the hostile architecture that governs the way we are allowed to interact with the outside world. The body is decommodifi ed when it can no longer serve the alienated city and is seen much like an object, or perhaps just like a mannequin.

The mannequin is the decommodifi ed body personifi ed. It became an effective vehicle for materializing these ideas about the unfair treatment of decommodifi ed bodies in our society.

Smaller constructs gave way for the birth of our friendly neighborhood Susan. A prototype for the ideal alioid traveling machine. She is alive and healthy as long as the alioid can feed her.

She even lives inside of the New Spectacle.

The New Spectacle provided a way to delve deeper into the aspects of the spectacle that I found to be particularly compelling. This last part of the project allowed me to apply the concepts of world building and spectacle to a spectacle of my very own. The creation of a new spectacle, adjacent to the real world, is a way to refl ect back truths about our reality and provides us an opportunity to question the world of unending commodifi cation that we live in.

CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION

157

L I S T O F F I GU R E S FIGURE 1 FIGURE 2 FIGURE 3 FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5 FIGURE 6 FIGURE 7 FIGURE 8 FIGURE 9 FIGURE 10 FIGURE 11 FIGURE 12 FIGURE 13 FIGURE 14 FIGURE 15 FIGURE 16 FIGURE 17 FIGURE 18 FIGURE 19 FIGURE 20 -

FIGURE 21 FIGURE 22 FIGURE 23 FIGURE 24 FIGURE 25 FIGURE 26 FIGURE 27 FIGURE 28 FIGURE 29 FIGURE 30 FIGURE 31 FIGURE 32 FIGURE 33 FIGURE 34 FIGURE 35 FIGURE 36 FIGURE 37 FIGURE 38 FIGURE 39 FIGURE 40 FIGURE 41 FIGURE 42-

Streets are dominated by cars.

Our experience of public space is through the interior space of the car.

Photograph of a crowd wearing identical clothes, a milieu of strangers. Early 1900s.

Photograph of the Salts Textile Mill. Saltaire, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Photo collection of Maggie Land Blanck.

“I shop therefore I am,” Barbara Kruger (1990).

1974 magazine ad for Curlee Clothing Co. Buick assembly line (1950). Alienation of workers.

The women’s section of Harrods, London, the world’s oldest department store, in 1919.

Times square, spectacle.

Spectacle of a boulevard.

The luxury residential tower One57, completed in 2014, still has several unsold condo units.

Credit...Karsten Moran for The New York Times Among more than 16,200 new condo units built since 2013 in New York City, roughly 4,100, or one in four, remain unsold.Credit...Stefano Ukmar for The New York Times The tower at 15 Hudson Yards, where 37.5 percent of condos had been sold by late AugustCredit...Stefano Ukmar for The New York Times Photograph of a common boulevard. Moore (2020).

“Lyrical Series.” Moore (2019).

“Lyrical Series.” Moore (2019).

“Lyrical Series.” Moore (2019).

“Lyrical Series.” Moore (2019).

Drawing of the behind.

Timothy Webb, 49, left, and Bruce, 59, live in a tent city, dubbed Camp Runamuck, in Providence, R.I., under an overpass stretch of Route 195 that is scheduled for demolition. Credit...

Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times Traffic passes through the 16th street viaduct Tuesday, March 24, 2009, in Huntington. Lori Wolfe, The Herald Dispatch.

The underpass opened in 1909, along with the Lee Street (Park Street) Viaduct. Jacksonville, FL. Drawing of the underneath.

“Regency square mall.” Moore (2020).

“Regency square mall.” Moore (2020).

“Regency square mall.” Moore (2020).

“Regency square mall.” Moore (2020).

Drawing of the inverted.

“Fractures.” Moore (2020).

“Fractures.” Moore (2020).

“Fractures.” Moore (2020).

Drawing of the fractured.

“Hostility.” Moore (2020).

“Hostility.” Moore (2020).

“Hostility.” Moore (2020).

Drawing of the circumscribed.

Photograph of the boundless. Moore (2020).

Drawing of the boundless.

The Narrative Matrix.

Warped reality lens is handheld.

Warped reality lens.

Warped reality lens.

FIGURE 43 FIGURE 44 FIGURE 45 FIGURE 46 FIGURE 47 FIGURE 48 FIGURE 49 FIGURE 50 FIGURE 51 FIGURE 52 FIGURE 53 FIGURE 54 FIGURE 55FIGURE 56 FIGURE 57 FIGURE 58 FIGURE 59 FIGURE 60 FIGURE 61 FIGURE 62 FIGURE 63 FIGURE 64 FIGURE 65 FIGURE 66 FIGURE 67 FIGURE 68 FIGURE 69 FIGURE 70 FIGURE 71 FIGURE 72 FIGURE 73 FIGURE 74 FIGURE 75 FIGURE 76 FIGURE 77 FIGURE 78 FIGURE 79 FIGURE 80 FIGURE 81 FIGURE 82 FIGURE 83 FIGURE 84 FIGURE 85 FIGURE 86 FIGURE 87 FIGURE 88 FIGURE 89 FIGURE 90 FIGURE 91 -

Warped reality lens: How to use it.

Warped reality lens: How to use it.

Warped reality lens close up.

Isolated in lonely crowds.

Spikes under an overpass preventing.

Bench in a subway station.

James Weldon Johnson Park. Moore (2020). @ADMartin86 on twitter. Oct 12, 2020.

Cyclical nature of the process of decommodification. Moore (2021).

Krzysztof Wodiczko.

Krzysztof Wodiczko.

Sarah Ross.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

Diagrammatic construct.

A narrative of the diagrammatic construct.

Storefront image via the Library of Congress.

Florida Memory, hastings graham, Colin, Paul Townsend and Oklahoma Historical Society.

Source: Thread for Thought.

Twilight Zone, “The After Hours.”

Mannequin (1987).

Life Size (2000).

Amr Alfiky/The New York Times A study of displacement.

Mannequin supported by linear elements.

Hands in dialogue.

Hands in dialogue.

Hands in dialogue.

Hands in dialogue.

Susan in construction in my home garage.

Susan in elevation.

A storyboard for Susan.

Susan has shiny new wheels.

Lori Nix and Kathleen Gerber “The City” Mohamad Hafez “Unpacked: Refugee Baggage” The three experience boxes.

Library of Congress.

Source: The Asian Fashion Journal.

The Virtual Storefront.

The Virtual Storefront.

The Virtual Storefront.

The Virtual Storefront.

The Eerie Digger. Coin Machine Ads in The Billboard, March 28, 1931 Source: The Asian Fashion Journal Life Claw Machine.

159

FIGURE 92 FIGURE 93 FIGURE 94 FIGURE 95 FIGURE 96 FIGURE 97 FIGURE 98 FIGURE 99 FIGURE 100 FIGURE 101 FIGURE 102 FIGURE 103 FIGURE 104 FIGURE 105 FIGURE 106 FIGURE 107 -

Life Claw Machine.

Life Claw Machine.

Life Claw Machine imagined in real space.

Courtesy of Life Magazine photo archive Two iconic movies with mall scenes.

The Gruen Spectacle.

The Gruen Spectacle.

The Gruen Spectacle.

Providence Place Mall.

Trummerkind, Underground Installation, Cinderblock, Furnishings, Mall Purchases, Collaborators: Colin, Adriana, Number 3, Number 4, Number 5, Number 6, Number 7, Number 8 Providence Place Mall Portal into the Gruen Spectacle.

Portal into the Gruen Spectacle.

Portal into the Gruen Spectacle.

Portal into the Gruen Spectacle.

Apartment in the Gruen Spectacle.

161

WORKS CITED ALEXANDERSEN, CHRISTIAN. “Hal Greer Underpass to Get Makeover.” The Herald Dispatch, 27 Mar. 2009, www.herald-dispatch.com/news/hal-greer-underpass-to-get-makeover/article_ d4e22441-65b7-5da6-952c-d55a886a0ff3.html.

Barry, Dan. “Living in Tents, and by the Rules, Under a Bridge.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 30 July 2009, www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/31land.html.

Chen, Stefanos. “One in Four of New York’s New Luxury Apartments Is Unsold.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 13 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/realestate/new-developmentnew-york.html.

“The City.” Lori Nix / Kathleen Gerber, www.lorinix.net/the-city/5s0iu4xao81klfnt3jpl86i8cnfuw3.

“Dime After Dime: A Gripping History of Claw Machines.” Mental Floss, 7 July 2016, www.mentalfloss. com/article/82524/dime-after-dime-gripping-history-claw-machines.

Gladwell, Malcolm. “The Terrazzo Jungle.” The New Yorker, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/03/15/the-terrazzo-jungle.

Felluga, Dino. Introduction to Karl Marx, Module on Fetishism, 31 Jan. 2011, cla.purdue.edu/academic/ english/theory/marxism/modules/marxfetishism.html.

Hu, Winnie. “‘Hostile Architecture’: How Public Spaces Keep the Public Out.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/nyregion/hostile-architecture-nyc. html.

Kogod, Lauren. “The Display Window as Educator: the German Werkbund and Cultural Economy.”

Architecture and Capitalism 1845 to the Present, by Peggy Deamer, Routledge, 2014.

Leopold, David. “Alienation.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stanford University, 30 Aug. 2018, plato.stanford.edu/entries/alienation/.

Lowe, Vanessa. “The Accidental Room.” 99% Invisible, 1 Jan. 1970, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/ the-accidental-room/.

Morris, Leighann. “The Complete History of Mannequins: Garbos, Twiggies, Barbies and Beyond.”Hopes&Fears, 20 Nov. 2015, www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/city/fashion/213389history-of-mannequins.

Ockerman, Emma. “Here’s How Cities Are Making It Illegal to Be Homeless.” VICE, www.vice.com/en/ article/evjjw7/heres-how-cities-are-making-it-illegal-to-be-homeless.

Ross, Sarah. “Sarah.ross ART+RESEARCH*.” /\SARAH ROSS/\, www.insecurespaces.net/archisuits. html#.

Sennett, Richard. The Fall of Public Man. Knopf, 1977.

Serling, Rod. “The Twilight Zone / The After Hours .” Season 1, episode 34, 10 June 1960.

Spectacle, Society of the. Society of the Spectacle. Black & Red, 1977.

Trufelman, Avery. “The Gruen Effect.” 99% Invisible, 1 Jan. 1970, 99percentinvisible.org/episode/thegruen-effect/.

UNPACKED: Refugee Baggage - Mohamad Hafez Art, www.mohamadhafez.com/UNPACKED-Refugee-Baggage.

“Why Do Homeless People Live Under Bridges?” HomelessAdvice.com, 20 Sept. 2020, homelessadvice. com/why-do-homeless-people-live-under-bridges/.

Wodiczko, Krzysztof. CRITICAL VEHICLES. MIT PR, 1999.

163

THANK YOU To all of my friends, family and professors for helping me along the way.

And Mom, thank you for lending me your garage.