"The body of Christ offered to Christians in consecrated bread and wine is not something but someone. In the Eucharist Christ is present not as an 'object' to be admired but as a person (a 'subject') to be encountered." -Nathan Mitchell
Showing posts with label Critical Operational Terms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Critical Operational Terms. Show all posts
Friday, February 15, 2008
Transubstantiation
The language of "transubstantiation" affirms that while the appearances of the bread and wine remain the same, the substance of both really change. Through the action of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy, the bread and wine become the sacramental signs of Christ's presence; they are no longer bread and wine but the body and blood of Christ.
"The body of Christ offered to Christians in consecrated bread and wine is not something but someone. In the Eucharist Christ is present not as an 'object' to be admired but as a person (a 'subject') to be encountered." -Nathan Mitchell
"The body of Christ offered to Christians in consecrated bread and wine is not something but someone. In the Eucharist Christ is present not as an 'object' to be admired but as a person (a 'subject') to be encountered." -Nathan Mitchell
"Child-Like"
Perspectival space represented as privileging the horizontal at the expense of the vertical- rational space is reorganized.
Refraction: "The bending of a wave, such as a light or sound wave, as it passes from one medium to another medium of different density. The change in the angle of propagation depends on the difference between the index of refraction of the original medium and the medium entered by the wave, as well as on the frequency of the wave." (per the American Heritage Science Dictionary).Materiality is reintroduced - each material has a specific index of refraction (a property of that material), for example, a vacuum has an n-value of 1, for water, n=1.333, diamond, n=2.419, pyrex, n=1.47, etc. for a set wavelength of light equaling 589.29 nanometers.
Noise-barrier design: 1970's engineering studies focused extensively on refraction as a method of designing highways' borders with their environment.Thursday, February 14, 2008
Penance in the movie
This is also from the movie "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring" which is a scene where the main actor carves out a paragraph to apologize for his crime.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Mosque at Cordoba Study
For a building to be motionless is the exception: our pleasure comes from moving about so as to make the building move in turn, while we enjoy all these combinations of its parts. As they vary, the column turns, depths recede, galleries glide: a thousand visions escape.
Paul Valery, The Method of Leonardo
The Mosque at Cordoba is an interesting example of a field condition. The myriad of columns (over 900) dematerializes the lateral walls enclosing the prayer hall and also lends the space a sense of movement, which is enhanced by the body's movement through the space. See Stan Allen's article, "Field Conditions," in Points+Lines (1985).
The following images and video are various studies using the Mosque at Cordoba as a model. The idea is to produce a sense of movement without literal movement of the objects. Light and body/camera movement produce the effects.
Video: Movement Simulated with Light
Video: Movement Simulated with Camera (as stand in for the body)
Paul Valery, The Method of Leonardo
The Mosque at Cordoba is an interesting example of a field condition. The myriad of columns (over 900) dematerializes the lateral walls enclosing the prayer hall and also lends the space a sense of movement, which is enhanced by the body's movement through the space. See Stan Allen's article, "Field Conditions," in Points+Lines (1985).
The following images and video are various studies using the Mosque at Cordoba as a model. The idea is to produce a sense of movement without literal movement of the objects. Light and body/camera movement produce the effects.
Video: Movement Simulated with Light
Video: Movement Simulated with Camera (as stand in for the body)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Motion Parallax and Steven Holl
Motion parallax is the change of angular position of two observations of a single object relative to each other as seen by an observer, caused by the motion of the observer. Simply put, it is the apparent shift of an object against the background that is caused by a change in the observer's position.
Parallax is often thought of as the 'apparent motion' of an object against a distant background because of a perspective shift, as seen in Figure 1. When viewed from Viewpoint A, the object appears to be closer to the blue square. When the viewpoint is changed to Viewpoint B, the object appears to have moved in front of the red square.
Steven Holl transforms the effect of motion parallax in his design for the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. As sequential experiences of space in parallax can only be played out in personal perception, Holl expands spatial perception opportunities beyond the horizontal dimension to include the vertical and the oblique. Spatial definition is therefore ordered by angles of perception. Vertical and oblique slippages are key to the effect.
Parallax is often thought of as the 'apparent motion' of an object against a distant background because of a perspective shift, as seen in Figure 1. When viewed from Viewpoint A, the object appears to be closer to the blue square. When the viewpoint is changed to Viewpoint B, the object appears to have moved in front of the red square.
Steven Holl transforms the effect of motion parallax in his design for the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. As sequential experiences of space in parallax can only be played out in personal perception, Holl expands spatial perception opportunities beyond the horizontal dimension to include the vertical and the oblique. Spatial definition is therefore ordered by angles of perception. Vertical and oblique slippages are key to the effect.
Placebo Effect
As I write these words, an estimated three million people are gathered in Rome to observe the funeral services of Pope John Paul II who died on April 3. The figure is impressive, and this is just the people who have come to Rome for the event, not those already there. News commentators marvel at this tremendous “outpouring of humanity.” On the day of the event, and for long afterwards, we can expect to be barraged by close-up images of people in prayer, bereaved, devout, reverent, their faces and indeed their entire bodies seized by deep emotion.
What are they feeling? What do they believe? Why are they there?
The dynamic of faith is extremely difficult to grasp, because faith seems to have an almost magical ability to grant power to those who give power to it. This dynamic has been called the placebo effect. It works with many things, from medicines to mantras. The efficacy of a placebo inheres in a feedback loop: it gives power to those who give it power. For instance, taking the Host at Mass gives power to those who give it power. To those who give it no power, it is ineffectual.
However, the placebo effect does not consist just in this two-way exchange. There is a trick involved: the returning power of the placebo (be it an object, such as the Host, or an idea, such as grace) appears to be independent of the power granted to it in the first place. The feedback is effective, and tends to quell any doubting or critical observation, because the way it works tends to conceal the true nature of this exchange: giving away power to get power. Those who receive the Host in Catholic mass, believing in the independent power of the Host, get back far more through their faith than they give. Or so it appears.
But the operation of faith here is deceiving. We are not yet at the core dynamic of the placebo effect. There is another layer of dissimulation at work. The placebo effect makes it appear as if believers get more than they give (first level of dissimilation), but in reality believers may be giving more than they get (the second, deeper level of dissimilation). The placebo effect is wonderful, and really works, otherwise there would not be so many deeply religious people in the world, but what goes without notice is the investment that must be made to get a convincing return.
Excerpts from The Tyranny of Faith: Reflections on the Death of a Patriarch
What are they feeling? What do they believe? Why are they there?
The dynamic of faith is extremely difficult to grasp, because faith seems to have an almost magical ability to grant power to those who give power to it. This dynamic has been called the placebo effect. It works with many things, from medicines to mantras. The efficacy of a placebo inheres in a feedback loop: it gives power to those who give it power. For instance, taking the Host at Mass gives power to those who give it power. To those who give it no power, it is ineffectual.
However, the placebo effect does not consist just in this two-way exchange. There is a trick involved: the returning power of the placebo (be it an object, such as the Host, or an idea, such as grace) appears to be independent of the power granted to it in the first place. The feedback is effective, and tends to quell any doubting or critical observation, because the way it works tends to conceal the true nature of this exchange: giving away power to get power. Those who receive the Host in Catholic mass, believing in the independent power of the Host, get back far more through their faith than they give. Or so it appears.
But the operation of faith here is deceiving. We are not yet at the core dynamic of the placebo effect. There is another layer of dissimulation at work. The placebo effect makes it appear as if believers get more than they give (first level of dissimilation), but in reality believers may be giving more than they get (the second, deeper level of dissimilation). The placebo effect is wonderful, and really works, otherwise there would not be so many deeply religious people in the world, but what goes without notice is the investment that must be made to get a convincing return.
Excerpts from The Tyranny of Faith: Reflections on the Death of a Patriarch
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