Wall
Original reading here.
In considering walls this week, I was struck by the seemingly banal notion of walls being eye-level. One often hears of the oppressiveness of the glass ceiling, but rarely hears of the ways in which walls serve to circumscribe lives and maintain the sense of societal control. I am reminded of Mike Davis’ City of Quartz, in which the author describes a post-modern Los Angeles only accessible to the chosen few - those with upward mobility and automobiles.. the rich and the powerful. Similar to the ‘unsleepable’ bench that was saw an image of in class last week, Davis describes shopping centers in L.A. that are accessible solely via car. Walls, serve in this case as a horses blinders would.. preventing the individual from having a full awareness of what is happening just beyond. In the same way, during the 50 year reign of Robert Moses in New York City, many highways were built with bridges so low that public buses could not share the roads for lack of available clearance. In these cases the walls are intentionally constructed to divide, separate, and oppress. Clearly the three most obvious examples would by the Great Wall of China, the Israeli wall and the new wall along the U.S. - Mexican border. Banksy’s Israeli Wall paintings bring to the forefront many of the ways in which walls can be considered as part of our day to day lives. Painting placid, inviting scenes - a la trompe l’oeil - serves to bring our attention to the ways in which a wall is a barrier, but also makes note of the availability of a peace and comfort just out of reach.
I am wondering, though, how walls have been changing as technology and industry is changing. Clearly physical walls can be conquered, but, as things change, will more subtle divisions remain? Isn’t there increased accessibility in our world of pervasive and democratized technology — doesn’t everyone have access? Indeed no. Last week I was at a party at the Rose Center at the Museum of Natural History on a Friday night. It was necessary to purchase my tickets online. This is accepted commonly and is generally the only way, in Manhattan, to get movie tickets as well (lest they be sold out at showtime). To my dismay, however, it was necessary for me to use my credit card at a kiosk inside to purchase drink tickets before went to the bar. These seemingly invisible and virtual walls separate us just as much.. in fact more than a physical wall ever could. Virtual walls, indeed, seem to remove agency from the individual.. one cannot scale a wall that one cannot see through sheer strength and force - virtual walls seem to have increased the subjectivity behind these divisions. When walls are virtual, they are updatable and customizable - they can be tweaked to sift out different undesirables at every stage.
posted by Amanda @ 5:21 PM,
