Utopia’s Ghost: Architecture and Postmodernism, Again

268 Pages·2010·9.54 MB·English

by  Reinhold Martin

utopia’s ghost
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UTOPIA’S GHOST
Architecture and Postmodernism, Again
reinhold martin
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis
London
For publication information on previously published material in this book, see
Publication History on page 213.
Every effort was made to obtain permission to reproduce material in this book.
If any proper acknowledgment has not been included, we encourage copyright
holders to notify the publisher.
Copyright 2010 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
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permission of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
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Minneapolis, MN 55401-2520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, Reinhold
Utopia’s ghost : architecture and postmodernism, again / Reinhold Martin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-6963-9 (pb : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-8166-6962-2 (hc : alk. paper)
1. Architecture, Postmodern. I. Title.
NA682.P67M375 2010
724'.6—dc22
2010011277
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal-opportunity educator and employer.
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
for kadambari and neelan
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments(cid:2) ix
Introduction Architecture and Postmodernism, Again xi
1 Territory From the Inside, Out 1
2 History The Last War 27
3 Language Environment, c. 1973 49
4 Image Have We Ever Been Postmodern? 69
5 Materiality Mirrors 93
6 Subjects Mass Customization 123
7 Architecture Utopia’s Ghost 147
Notes(cid:2) 181
Publication History(cid:2) 211
Index(cid:2) 213
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The diversity of contexts in which much of this work first saw the light of
day means that there are too many individuals to thank for their contri-
bution to its realization. Some of these contributions were made know-
ingly, in the form of advice, criticism, or other direct support, and some
were made unknowingly, in casual conversation or an invitation to con-
sider a particular subject or a response to a presentation. Ultimately, this
book would have been both impossible and inconceivable without the
combination of audiences, readers, and interlocutors from whom it has
thereby benefited.
Among these I must thank Felicity Scott, Brian Larkin, and Andreas
Huyssen for uncounted conversations and collaborations from which
I have learned a great deal. The intellectual context provided by Grey
Room, in which some of this work first appeared, has, as always, been
invaluable. There I also thank Branden Joseph, Karen Beckman, and
Tom McDonough for making it what it is. In ways that remain largely
intangible, this book also benefited significantly from the unique intel-
lectual environment offered by the Institute for Comparative Literature
and Society at Columbia University, especially in the persons of Gayatri
Spivak and Rosalind Morris.
An important portion of the research for this book was completed
while I was a visiting scholar at the Canadian Centre for Architecture
(CCA). I warmly thank Phyllis Lambert, Mirko Zardini, and Alexis Sornin
for a memorable and productive summer spent in their company at the
CCA. Peter Sealy was an able research assistant during this time. The CCA
generously allowed me to mount a collaborative research exhibition,
“Utopia’s Ghost: Postmodernism Reconsidered,” cocurated with students
from Columbia and based on two seminars at the Graduate School of
.
ix