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An exploration of urbanism, personal identity, and how the space we live in shapes us
According to philosopher and cultural critic Mark Kingwell, the transnational global city—New York and Shanghai—is the most significant machine our species has ever produced. And yet, he says, we fail again and again to understand it. How do cities shape us, and how do we shape them? That is the subject of Concrete Reveries, which investigates how we occupy city space and why place is so important to who we are.
Kingwell explores the sights, smells, and forms of the city, reflecting on how they mold our notions of identity, the limits of social and political engagement, and our moral obligations as citizens. He offers a critique of the monumental architectural supermodernism in which buildings are valued more for their exteriors than for what is inside, as well as some lively writing on the significance of threshold structures like doorways, lobbies, and porches and the kinds of emotional attachments we form to ballparks, carnival grounds, and gardens. In the process, he gives us a whole new set of models and metaphors for thinking about the city.
With a spectacular interior design and more than seventy-five photos, Concrete Reveries will appeal to fans of Jane Jacobs, Witold Rybczynski, and Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness....
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What is the role of art in modern society? To entertain us? To teach us? Both? And what of philosophy? What relevance does it have to how we think and live? In Opening Gambits, Mark Kingwell argues that art and philosophy are forms of play, working at the margins of meaning and sense. Written in Kingwell’s typical witty and eloquent style, the book begins with general assessments of the art world and the relationship between art and architecture. Including lively critical engagements with artists like Edward Burtynsky, David Bierk, James Lahey, and Blue Republic, these pieces tease out the philosophical issues embedded in the aesthetic experience of art. In part two, Kingwell reverses the polarity, investigating philosophy as a kind of art form that is constantly questioning its own possibility. The two parts of the book are simultaneously separated and joined by a collection of images that feature the works discussed in part one. ...
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What is the role of art in modern society? And what of philosophy? In Opening Gambits, Mark Kingwell argues that art and philosophy are forms of play, working at the margins of meaning and sense. Written in Kingwell’s typical witty and eloquent style, the book begins with general assessments of the art world and the relationship between art and architecture. In part two, Kingwell reverses the polarity, investigating philosophy as a kind of art form that is constantly questioning its own possibility. ...
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An exploration of urbanism, personal identity, and how the space we live in shapes us
According to philosopher and cultural critic Mark Kingwell, the transnational global city—New York and Shanghai—is the most significant machine our species has ever produced. And yet, he says, we fail again and again to understand it. How do cities shape us, and how do we shape them? That is the subject of Concrete Reveries, which investigates how we occupy city space and why place is so important to who we are.
Kingwell explores the sights, smells, and forms of the city, reflecting on how they mold our notions of identity, the limits of social and political engagement, and our moral obligations as citizens. He offers a critique of the monumental architectural supermodernism in which buildings are valued more for their exteriors than for what is inside, as well as some lively writing on the significance of threshold structures like doorways, lobbies, and porches and the kinds of emotional attachments we form to ballparks, carnival grounds, and gardens. In the process, he gives us a whole new set of models and metaphors for thinking about the city.
With a spectacular interior design and more than seventy-five photos, Concrete Reveries will appeal to fans of Jane Jacobs, Witold Rybczynski, and Alain de Botton’s The Architecture of Happiness....
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