Suchergebnisse

Here, the author is dealing with the dual valence of social and aesthetic representations of a symbolic place, the garden, and of its links with collective memory. She will approach the argument from a variety of perspectives that can be summarized as follows: (a) the social and aesthetic representation of the sacred (paradise) in the hortus conclusus —the "geometrization" of space begins with the stability of the Italic pagus; (b) the labyrinth, the social and aesthetic representation of the garden as exorcism, which opposes the hybris of power; (c) the social and aesthetic representation of power in royal gardens (profane); (d) the social and aesthetic representation of collective memory in cemeteries—these are a specific model of hortus conclusus, entrusted with collective memories; and (e) the new stimulus to collective memory by the restoration of former industrial areas (creation of garden-paradises). Today, these areas are the new horti conclusi of collective memory.

Real places and events are constructed and used to symbolize abstract formulations of power and authority in politics, corporate practice, the arts, religion, and community. By analyzing the aesthetics of public space in contexts both mundane and remarkable, the contributors examine the social relationship between public and private activities that impart meaning to groups of people beyond their individual or local circumstances. From a range of perspectives—anthropological, sociological, and socio-cultural—the contributors discuss road-making in Peru, mass housing in Britain, an unsettling traveling exhibition, and an art fair in London; we explore the meaning of walls in Jerusalem, a Zen garden in Japan, and religious themes in Europe and India. Literally and figuratively, these situations influence the ways in which ordinary people interpret their everyday worlds. By deconstructing the taken for- granted definitions of social value (democracy, equality, individualism, fortune), the authors reveal the ideological role of imagery and imagination in a globalized political context