ONCE MORE INTO THE BREECH
It is time to return to the studio. For the past few months that has been a daunting premise, the goliath in front of me. You see, I have once again managed to think and doubt myself into an absolute terror regarding that place. Not that I have anything against thinking or doubt; quite to the contrary, I would generally consider myself among the strongest proponents of the reflective practices. But, alas, it has perhaps gone too far. Thus, dear readers, I begin a new phase in my practice and you shall be in on it at the ground floor. You, too, can watch as I put aside the redundant circuitry of my over-analysis and return once more to that dark neglected room that I call the studio.
the futility of urban living #1
the cloverleaf
[click image above to watch ]
the futility of urban living #1
the cloverleaf
[click image above to watch ]
6 Comments:
I thought that I was going to get to see the other truly terrible thing about the cloverleaf, which I was just discussing with a friend yesterday as we got ready to get onto I-71 N from 270 E: the phenomenon of the cars entering the freeway and the cars leaving the freeway both needing to use the same lane at the same time. I've never really been able to figure out who thought that was going to be a viable traffic pattern--though I know darned well that it's probably been enormously documented in urban planning histories.
The wife and i actually did about ten complete circuits this afternoon for filming purposes; though i only include about two and a half laps. I think that gets the futility across.
We both fopund the experience of staying on the cloverleaf perpetually a rather disorienting experience.
I like how you have the news playing in the background, reinforcing how the futility of the cloverleaf -- movement without progression -- seems an apt metaphor for much broader (roadway-unrelated) concerns.
It would be great if you could find a way to seamlessly loop the clip, such that it would simply play endlessly. Because there would be no mechanism within the program to end the clip, the viewer would be forced to do one of two things: (1) watch in eternal expectation of an end which would never come; (2) navigate away from the page (or close the browser altogether), thereby always leaving open the possibility that something might have been just around the bend -- if only one had had enough patience to wait for it.
Little known fact about me: had I not pursued literature and teaching as a career, I might well have become a civil engineer. To this day, few things are more beautiful to me than a perfectly symmetrical cloverleaf, with its elegant, economical curves.
Which reminds me -- Dr. S, I think the reason why the cloverleaf has been such a popular configuration is because of its economics. In the case of intersecting highways, building a cloverleaf avoids the expense of constructing a complex network of flyovers; in the case of highways that intersect surface roads, it achieves an alternative kind of economy by minimizing the use of traffic lights, thereby ensuring an uninterrupted flow of traffic. (Compare diamond interchanges, which, in busier areas, often necessitate the use of one & sometimes two traffic lights). The fact that entering & exiting traffic must merge in the same small area has been deemed an acceptable trade-off, it seems.
It does sum up my experience of city living. I enjoy city visiting quite a lot, but city living not so much.
PSM -- The eternal version may be in the future for this one, just need to go out and do a much more prolonged shoot. Also need to determine the role of the audio in that context, because I think that "movement without progression" -- as you put it -- is important, but how would that work within a potentially infinite system.
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