Fig 1. The man in the mirror (2014)
Fig. 2 Dundee House Plan (2013)
Dundee House, designed by Reiach and Hall architects and completed in 2011, houses Dundee's council offices. It sits somewhat behind and away from the busy commercial centre of the city, fronting out not onto a public square, as the design drawings seem to aspire to, but instead on to a bleak car park and servicing entrances of the surrounding buildings. The threshold between the street and the entrance foyer takes the form of an arcaded walkway, occupying a large section of the lower ground plan. This space will henceforth be referred to as "The Arcade" and serves as the starting point for this discussion. The study itself was birthed from a group exploration of public spaces (6 outsides and 1 inside, see Appendix 1) in the city of Dundee. Subjects for investigation and comparison developed into the following list of diagrammatic studies: Parti, Circulation, Enclosure, Access, Location, Scale, Privacy and "The Other". The area which has become most central to this study is that of The Other and how it impacts the public or private nature of this space. Upon entering The Arcade it at first seems to consume the whole frontage of the building. This mirage lasts for a mere moment when half of the space reveals itself as a reflection of the other. Created by mirrored panels installed almost the full height of the closed end of the arcade, the illusion is a visual doubling of the space, severed in half by the mirror plane. There are now effectively two spaces present, the real arcade and the reflected one.
Fig.3 Planar mirror, object and observer diagram (2014)
"In the mirror, I see myself there where I am not, in an unreal, virtual space that opens up behind the surface ... it makes this place that I occupy at the moment when I look at myself in the glass at once absolutely real, connected with all the space that surrounds it, and absolutely unreal" (Foucault, 1967)
In his essay, based on a lecture given in 1967 "Of other spaces: utopias and heterotopias", Foucault attempts to define spaces that fall between the definitive positions of real and imaginary, which mediate between the normal and the unattainable utopia. He highlights early on that the mirror is the epitome of his defining principles of the heterotopia . For every action in the real space there is a counteraction in the space of the mirror, the utopian (since it can never truly exist), imaginary space. These two conditions existing simultaneously are what makes the mirror space so different and opposes our conventional notions of what is true and real. But unreality can have a distressing effect on architecture. Mark Cousions in "The ugly"(1994), although not directly referencing this notion of "otherness" as Foucault does, speaks of the associations between truth with beauty and untruth with ugliness.
Fig. 4 and Fig 5 The Mirror in The Arcade. (2013)
"Since antiquity, beauty has been regarded as possessing a privileged relation to truth. From this follows that an ugly representation, or an ugly object, is a negation not just of beauty but of truth" (Cousins, 1994)
I would suggest that the idea of the heterotopia and Cousions "ugly" are both manifests of "the other" as something that makes a space uncomfortable or strange. This type of Otherness is associated with negativity, something differing from the usual, that poses a threat to the everyday. So we shy away and hide from this otherness. As human beings we generally do not like to be disturbed from our routine so we pretend not to see the things which disrupt it and as Cousions concludes "The confrontation with the ugly object involves a whole scheme of turning away" (1994).
Although differing from the original Other I had identified to The Arcade (as illustrated in the diagrams of Appendix 1) I speculate now, and for the remainder of this investigation that The Other to The Arcade is in fact the reflected version of itself in it's mirror. Like a severed limb which you can still be felt, the arcades reflection hangs in this strange limbo between absence and presence. Herein lies the strangeness of the arcade space which I wish to explore, not only in terms of the
Fig.6 The reflected Arcade section (2014)
mirrors place in the arcade and its implications on that space but also the bizarre relationship between people and all mirrors. Although seemingly commonplace, often mirrors and reflections are misunderstood. We imagine that we could walk around the mirror and become the image of ourselves, but this is of course not the case. The mirror alters our usual senses and distorts the reality which we wish to see through it. Notoriously human beings are narcissistic creatures. Possibly the most influential proprietor of this theory was physiologist Sigmund Freud. He argued that this deep rooted self-love within peoples psyches is essential for their survival and that this obsession with oneself is a "libidinal complement to the egoism of the instinct of self-preservation" (1914). Freud took a concept that other physiologists had identified as being a detrimental anomaly and considered it as part of the normal human condition. A later paper by Jacques Lacan began to develop this theory of the ego. Lacan set up the argument that peoples fascination with themselves and their own image is in fact crucial to the development of self awareness and an individual's inner consciousness. In "The Mirror stage" he speculated that young children identifying their own bodies in their mirrored reflection formed the basis of the early development of their sense of "I" and that this external image allowed them to become conscious of their own individuality (Lacan, 1966).Until the child sees themselves in the reflected image they cannot identify as a separate entity to others. The mirror itself (and accompanying image) is a key item to them later being able to form relationships with others which they now recognise not to be all part of the same body. Colloquially,
Fig.7 Carravagio's Narcissus (1599)
recognition in mirrors is often used as demonstration of intelligence in animals, so this relation of the mirror image and formation of intelligence is clearly a wide reaching concept. It is strange then perhaps that the terms Narcissistic and ego are often used for offensive means, when they are theorised to be so crucial to our development as sentient beings. Lacan does however acknowledge some disparity in the formation of the ego and the mirror image which perhaps precludes to the uncomfortable relationship between the image we see and who we think we are and the negative connotations of the mirror. In a similar vein to Foucault's heterotopic description of the mirror image, Lacan describes how the body image in the mirror is similar to the reality but will never truly be the same and is therefore ultimately unattainable:
" But the important point is that this form situates the agency known as the ego, prior to its social determination, in a fictional direction that will forever remain irreducible for any single individual..." (Lacan, 1966)
These ill feelings towards the mirrored image are clearly deep rooted in the human consciousness. The mirrored, represented self was (and still is) a loaded subject within European culture, it is often tasked with representing the persons inner self, the "soul".
Fig. 8 Arnolfini Portrait (1434)
Historically, mirrors have been employed to negatively represent the perturbed relationship which people have with their own reflection. They are often used to warn away from having an unhealthy obsession with oneself. Possibly one of the earliest occurrences is in the Greek myth of Narcissus. The story tells of how a young beautiful boy, seeing himself reflected in a river, becomes so besotted with his own image that when he realises he can never truly obtain this object of his desires he ends up dying of sorrow (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014).
Of course this concept of crippling vanity has since formed one of the notorious 7 deadly sins that are so often dramatised in the arts. But mirrors as objects in their own rights have come to embody this same cynical metaphor of deception and duplicity in countless films and artworks. An early example of this ongoing fascination of the artist with the mirror is Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck (1434) . Initially the painting seems to depict merely two people alone in a room, but upon closer inspection the central motif, hanging on the wall of the room at the back, is a mirror. Reflected in the strangely convex mirror there seems to be a further two people in the room, this creates an almost uneasy feeling of surveillance as the presence of the extra two figures is not initially obvious. The use of the mirror produces a strange extension of the architectural space of the painting beyond the initial flat plane that it occupies. It amplifies the 3 dimensionality and the
Fig. 9 Dan Graham Pavilion 2001
spectator is unsuspectingly dragged into the space which the painting now captures. They are forced into the role of one of these mirrored bystanders and made to dwell in the space. The spectator becomes one of the subjects.
The subversion of spectator and object, watcher and watched is a notion that has continued to influence and be extensively investigated in the work of many modern artists. Dan graham in particular, uses mirrors as a tool for exploiting our typical archetypal notions of inside and outside, public and private and subverting them. Graham's large scale installations, or "pavilions" as they are often referred to, are studies of space and light which very much blur the boundaries between art and architecture. His structures were never meant to be physically inhabited though, and this warped negation of the inside that we seek from architecture in turn reflects all focus onto the viewer and into an act self-perception. His pieces frequently feature mirrored or semi mirrored glass and become almost solely about the spectator and their image in the surface. People are seeing, being seen and watching others see, they become the subjects of the work rather than the physical object he has constructed. Graham's mirrors peak the observers interest in their own image, like the fun house mirror the observer moves around to try and decipher the deception. In turn the piece is animated, turning the image from picture plane into a film like depiction of the space.
Fig. 10 Alterations to a Suburban House model 1978
A project by Graham particularly poignant to this study is that of "Alterations to a suburban house". Placing this piece and the arcade side by side they are almost distorted reflections of one another. Graham uses the recognisable format of an architectural model and constructs a scale version of an American suburban home, he then distorts the mundane little house into something rather different. Instead of the front wall of the house there is now a large expanse of glass exposing the interior of the house for all to see. The house is dramatically bisected in two by a plane mirror, effectively severing the back half of the home from the front. Graham's piece toys with the conventional boundaries of public and private. As in the Arcade, the public space is now oddly reflected back upon itself. The would-be occupants of the space are completely exposed and laid out for the world to judge. Behaviour in this space is no longer your own and is modified to try and emulate the image you would like to perceive in the mirror. This is the same uncomfort as the arcade mirror, the reflections in which make the occupier acutely aware of themselves and others in the space. Because you can view yourself, you are reminded that others will also be viewing you. The segregation by mirror changes the typically desirable looking home that graham has constructed and alienates the image into something no one would wish to occupy. In both spaces the mirroring of the public space indicates a hidden, secret, private space behind.
Whilst Graham's work comments on a broken utopian image of American suburban life, the arcade too represents the broken urban image of the civic building in Dundee. Clearly this space
Fig 11(right) Graham's Double Triangular Pavilion Fig 12 The reconstructed Barcelona Pavilion.
was meant as a grand arcaded walkway, facing out onto a public square, but just as the arcade is falsely stubbed in half so is the imagined civic space outside, which is in fact occupied by a somewhat grim car park. If anything the mirror, while briefly creating the illusion of the lengthy public arcade, actually more highlights its absence. The setting up a supposed public space in such a controlled manner reminds us that the rest of the city is not public. Where alterations to a suburban home disturbs and intrudes upon a private space, the arcades mirror intrudes upon a person's own personal sense of privacy and violates it.
"The fucking mirrors! They are everywhere. In the department store, on the corner of every street, in the window of every building in the city. I feel... I feel like I'm not the one looking into the mirrors, but they're looking back at me" Ben Carson, character in the film Mirrors (Aja and Levasseur, 2008) The work of graham is no doubt, in part, a critique of the modernist architecture and the cult of transparency that has since ensued. Visual comparisons between his pavilions such as Double Triangular Pavilion for Hamburg of 1989 and renowned buildings of modernist architects such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona pavilion (1929) are undeniable and the reappropriation of our glassy cities in Graham's installations is
Fig. 13 A typical shyscraper taking on the image of the buidings around it
no coincidence. Graham seems to use the motif of the modern glassy facade to create confusing and often deceiving mirror mazes which point out the ultra reflective and illusory nature of the modern city. The glass plane facades of the new skyscraper inherently take on a mirrored property almost completely opposing their original transparent nature. They become de materialised buildings, not creating connection and transparency as the modernist architect strived for but disconnecting the inside of the building with its exterior. The image of the building becomes an uncanny double of those surrounding it.
"While glass allowed for the visual social penetration of a building, the difference between public and private realms are now back in place. In a mirrored building, the only relationship established with the public realms are now back in place. In a mirrored building, the only relationship established with the public realm is by reflection." (Agrest 1993)
The glass and steel skyscraper has become an emblem of power and corporate gain. Again an unease with the reflective surface is felt. Because the person behind the glass is not visible, even if they are not really there it often feels as though there is a constant observer of spaces outside of reflective buildings. It
Fig. 14 The intimate mirror (2014)
is the person within the building that controls what they look at rather than the person outside, this emphasises the power that the person (or company) has over the social situation below. Perhaps this is the root of the strangeness of The Arcade mirror too. Although we are now used to the reflective power of the skyscraper, to then juxtapose this into a "public space" is jarring. It seems as though there is always someone watching us. This effect is exaggerated by the mirror, which creates a feeling of surveillance wether that be someone hidden from view or in fact our own gaze reflected back at us, it intrudes upon our sense of intimacy. So there exists a duality in the human relationship with the mirror. Whilst we want and, in some ways need, to look at our own image, we are in many ways made to feel ashamed in doing so. Someone who would comfortably stand and stare at their reflection whilst dressing, arranging their hair and brushing their teeth might then scurry passed their reflection outside of the home, pretending not to look. My objects (as seen in appendices 1 and 2) have influenced my thoughts on the mirror and our behaviour in it. They have clarified my unease with the Arcade mirror which seems to stem from the forced alteration of human social behaviour in it, its deceptive distortion and the feeling of being watched it creates. Our behaviour in spaces is significantly altered by how private we feel. We separate the two sides of ourself, the public and private image. The Mirror exists in several distinct conditions and I have come to believe that this behaviour in the mirror can often represent the socially sanctioned behaviour for the space which it inhabits.
The Personal mirror (of the bedroom, the bathroom, the rear view mirror of the car) represents our behaviour when we feel most comfortable and homely, nobody is looking on so we can behave however we see fit, stare at our own reflection as long as we please an
The Public mirror (the shop window, the mirror in the lift) where we must pretend not to look, pretend we are a certain way even if we aren't and avoid the gaze of others so that they do not steal a glance at our private selves as we would be in the private mirror.
The Funhouse mirror (the shared mirror of a bathroom, the mirrored sculpture in a gallery) sits between these public and private conditions and creates an odd mediation between our public and private behaviour. We know that we are allowed to look at this reflection but must unnaturally curb our private behaviour.
References Agrest, D. (1991). Architecture from without. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
Cousins, M. (1994). The Ugly. AA Files, 28, pp.61-64.
Encyclopidia Britannica. (2014). Narcissus (Greek mythology). [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: http://www. britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/403458/Narcissus [Accessed 6 Apr. 2014].
Foucault, M. and Miskowiec, J. (1986). Of other spaces. diacritics, pp.22--27.
Lacan, J. (1968). The mirror stage. Ecrits: A Selection, pp.1977--1.
Mirrors. (2008). [DVD] Alexandre Aja, GrĂŠgory Levasseu.
Wajcman, G. (2008). The Intimate Extorted, the Intimate Exposed. S, 1(1), pp.58--77.
Picture Credits Fig. 1 Author's own Fig.2 Author's own Fig.3 Author's own Fig.4 Author's own Fig.5 Author's own Fig.6Author's own Fig.7 Artble, (n.d.). Carravagio's Narcissus. [image] Available at: http://www.artble.com/artists/caravaggio/paintings/narcissus [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014]. Fig.8 Joannes Van Eyck, Arnolfini Portrait, (n.d.). [image] Available at: http://jackiewhiting.net/ArtHist/SlfPrt/ VanEyckSP.htm [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014]. Fig.9Art Observed, (2009). Dan Graham, Pavilion, 2001. [image] Available at: http://artobserved.com/2009/06/go-see-newyork-dan-graham-beyond-on-view-at-the-whitney-museumof-american-art-through-october-11th-2009/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014]. Fig.10 Arts Connected, (2009). Alteration to a Suburban House. [image] Available at: http://artsconnected.org/resource/91745/ alteration-to-a-suburban-house [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014]. Fig.11 Art on File, (2002). Double Triangular Pavilion, Dan Graham. [image] Available at: http://www.artonfile.com/detail. aspx?id=GPA-06-04-02 [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014].
Fig.12 Open University, (n.d.). The Barcelona Pavilion. [image] Available at: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/ history/heritage/the-barcelona-german-pavilion [Accessed 10 Apr. 2014]. Fig.13 Skyscraper Windows. (2008). [image] Available at: http:// www.thelensflare.com/imgs/clouds-reflection-on-windows-ofskyscraper_41286.html [Accessed 5 Apr. 2014]. Fig.14 Author's own
Appendix 1. 6 outsides 1 inside. PUBLIC SPACES + A CONFESSIONAL The Unit documented 6 public spaces in Dundee + one intimate private space, in drawings, photographs, and models, as part of an on-going program of research into the signs and characteristics of public and private space in the city. It was recognized that degrees of intimacy could be found in all spaces, as indeed could degrees of exposure.
Appendix 2. The Non reversing Mirror. Presented here is a mirror which when placed at the correct angle creates a non reversed reflection. This destabilises our habit of viewing, where we typically expect to see the reflected self that is so familiar we are instead confronted by a "truer" image more similar to how others would view us. It is familiar and strange at the same time and seeks to evoke a self awareness of the viewer; they become hyper conscious of their position within the spatial context as they are now observing themselves within it. Our conception of space is primarily formed by light's interaction with surface. The mirror tricks the eye into seeing a space where only a surface exists. Photographing the mirror extracts this even further. Where we would usually recognise that a space was a reflection when we move around and change perspective, by photographing the mirror, that ability is taken away and the difference between the actual surfaces and the reflected images is blurred. The photographs mediate the change between the image in the mirror and the actual material surfaces so that the spaces look distorted and slightly bizarre it becomes open to interpretation what in the picture is real and what is reflected.
The reversed arcade
The non-reversed arcade
Appendix 3 The mirror in a lift. Although a common sight, I believe that the mirror in the lift shares many of the same properties as the mirror in the arcade. The public placement of it means that the reflection belongs to no one. People enter and leave the lift at various floors, sometimes the lift becomes crowded but under no circumstance should anyone gaze into the mirror in case someone catches them doing so. Instead people uniformly face the door, turning their backs to their reflection. It has been drilled into us where we are allowed to look at ourselves (home changing room etc) and where we should not seem so self involved. Although it has become commonplace for us to see our own image in the windows of shops and glass walls of buildings to then be confronted by a physical mirror in a civic space is unnerving. But you should have the right to be different in private, you want to present a different image of your public self. The mirror reminds us of our public image and the need to maintain it. Here I take an everyday mirror task and extract it from the private mirror into the public one. Of course the result is ridiculous and brushing my teeth in the lift mirror attracted the giggles of several passersby. This highlights our very differnt public and private activities and natures despite the constant of the mirror.