Heterotopic Monument, from the series Data Manipulation, 0:04:25 min generative video, projection view, Wynwood, Miami, Florida, 18 June 2024. Photo © Alian Rives' Studio
Heterotopic Monument is a multimedia work that features images of various heterotopias, a concept Michel Foucault elaborated in his article "Des Espaces Autres"[1] ("Of Other Spaces"). Foucault uses this term to describe cultural, institutional, and discursive spaces that are "other": disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory, or transformative. Human geographers, often aligned with the postmodernist school, have applied this term and Foucault's ideas to understand the contemporary rise of cultural, social, political, and economic differences, and the centrality of identity in large multicultural cities. The idea of place as a heterotopic entity has gained attention in current postmodern and post-structuralist theoretical discussions and political practices in geography and other spatial social sciences. Heterotopias are "worlds within worlds," reflecting yet disrupting the outside world. Foucault provides numerous examples, including ships, cemeteries, bars, brothels, prisons, ancient gardens, fairs, and Muslim baths. He introduced the notion of heterotopia between 1966 and 1967, first mentioning it in the preface to "The Order of Things," where he referred to texts rather than socio-cultural spaces. This piece explores the heterotopia of illusion, creating a space of impression that reveals fragments of real places within a noninstitutional virtual monument. Heterotopic Monument consists of images of places a migrant witnessed while crossing from South America to the Mexican-USA border, processed through a defective machine memory. Foucault advocates for a society rich in heterotopias, which serve as spaces to affirm difference means to escape authoritarianism and repression through fragmented decentralized places.
[1] Foucault, Michel, and Jay Miskowiec. “Of Other Spaces.” Diacritics 16, no. 1 (1986): 22–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648.
Heterotopic Monument is a multimedia work that features images of various heterotopias, a concept Michel Foucault elaborated in his article "Des Espaces Autres"[1] ("Of Other Spaces"). Foucault uses this term to describe cultural, institutional, and discursive spaces that are "other": disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory, or transformative. Human geographers, often aligned with the postmodernist school, have applied this term and Foucault's ideas to understand the contemporary rise of cultural, social, political, and economic differences, and the centrality of identity in large multicultural cities. The idea of place as a heterotopic entity has gained attention in current postmodern and post-structuralist theoretical discussions and political practices in geography and other spatial social sciences. Heterotopias are "worlds within worlds," reflecting yet disrupting the outside world. Foucault provides numerous examples, including ships, cemeteries, bars, brothels, prisons, ancient gardens, fairs, and Muslim baths. He introduced the notion of heterotopia between 1966 and 1967, first mentioning it in the preface to "The Order of Things," where he referred to texts rather than socio-cultural spaces. This piece explores the heterotopia of illusion, creating a space of impression that reveals fragments of real places within a noninstitutional virtual monument. Heterotopic Monument consists of images of places a migrant witnessed while crossing from South America to the Mexican-USA border, processed through a defective machine memory. Foucault advocates for a society rich in heterotopias, which serve as spaces to affirm difference means to escape authoritarianism and repression through fragmented decentralized places.
[1] Foucault, Michel, and Jay Miskowiec. “Of Other Spaces.” Diacritics 16, no. 1 (1986): 22–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/464648.
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