NONSCAPE: THE OBJECTIVE AS TRUTH WITHIN THE URBAN DOMAIN

Much has been spoken about the urban environment and its impact upon the human condition. Rem Koolhaas suggested the notion of the ‘Generic City’ in terms of the stripping away of individual identity and sense of history within a given place. This is not to say that individual cities do not have their own idiosyncrasies within a given realm of architecture and layout. What he is alluding to is the increasing mallification and homogenization of the modern world. With ever increasing globalization and corporate branding across the globe, literal borders across countries become less relevant and individual and cultural identity becomes subsumed within this realm. The ‘Generic City’, rather than being literal, becomes a metaphor for the loss of individual identity and sense of alienation that enshrouds the modern human psyche. This project has been approached on the notions of the ‘Generic City’ and Marc Auge’s ‘Non-Place’ very much in mind, alluding to both philosophical strands of thought within a framework entitled ‘Nonscape’. The reasons for choosing Croydon are twofold. Firstly, until embarking upon this brief, Alex Currie had never visited Croydon. This is an important factor so that there were no prior preconceptions of the city or personal feelings towards the given location. This is vital in being able to offer an objective viewpoint on the location in terms of photographic representation. Secondly, unlike larger cities such as London or New York, there are no obvious landmarks that are renowned the world over. Croydon itself is also built very much on commerce. Even though most of the business in Croydon operates within a modern 21st century globalized framework, this is juxtaposed with a swathe of sixties architecture housing much of this corporate structure. Much building in Britain in the 1960’s was built with the notion of a modernist utopian ideal. This has arguably been lost with hindsight to what some would say had now become a dystopian ideal. Within the photographic representation given here, there can be seen meticulous attention to detail and crafting of each individual image. By using a large format view camera it has given the viewer the ability to be able to meditate upon each image in a manner that is ordinarily unavailable to the viewer due to the presence of people and traffic that offers the experience of passing through as opposed to seeing. Even where people are present within the frame they are either blurred out due to long exposure or insignificant within the image compared to the looming architecture. This puts the emphasis of the image upon the urban environment and not the individual, giving the viewer the opportunity to study the architecture and contemplate its’ effect upon the human condition. All the images have been taken with flat lighting again highlighting the overall sense of objectivity, which is again reinforced by the use of black and white film. With this vision of ‘Nonscape’ in a 21st century post-industrialized city there is a real sense of the juxtaposition of the old and new within an increasingly homogenized world. This gives the viewer a unique insight into the urban environment. Rather than giving concrete answers, ‘Nonscape’ opens up more questions of thought upon the notions of the homogenized world and the ‘Generic City’.