New Cities/New Soviets

March 04, 2005

Seeing and being seen

My time at the cart has taught me that seeing and being seen is much more intense for many people than I would have thought. I have come to understand this, not through direct observation -- how can one accurately observe a process that is so conciously masked -- but rather through the gravitational force it exerts on people's behavior, much the same way scientists postulate the existence of dark matter.

It makes sense, once I stop to think about it -- the openness and undecidability of the process makes it a perfect carrier, a receptacle and cauldron for the confrontation of self and other. Ironic -- the process of seeing is invisible, residing behind the eyes of the seer. Who will watch the watchers, indeed.

Doesn't this also invalidate fighting to "open new spaces" in the city, or even a "new commons"? Doesn't the possibility of new, functional spaces in the city necessarily lag behind a coherent organization of social forces?

Posted by Sam at March 4, 2005 09:42 PM

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