Papers by SHANE REINER-ROTH
The Great Imposter
Thresholds, 2017
When Paul Valéry made the bold claim in 1930 that, “We must expect great innovations to transform... more When Paul Valéry made the bold claim in 1930 that, “We must expect great innovations to transform the entire technique of the arts,” he likely did not have marble wallpaper and AstroTurf in mind. In an effort to appeal to modern consumers’ interest in great innovations, nearly every new material imitation was originally advertised as a revolution in science and technology, with full bravado and unflinching earnestness. Plastics and rubbers, engineered to mimic more familiar materials such as ivory and marble, were plainly presented as the next phase of human culture. The mascots for these products were often the machinery used to produce them—cold, hard, and animated only by inhuman speeds of manufacturing. The visual disjunction between the processes and the products was stark, and the narratives provided by their manufacturers only widened this gap. This was the standard, of course, before the baby boomer generation fell in love with the Nauga, a pudgy little animal discovered inhabiting the North East United States in 1966. Unlike any other mammal in existence, the Nauga regularly sheds its leather-yielding hide and grows a new one before anyone can see what lies beneath. Its discovery was a miracle for those opposed to the slaughtering of animals just as it was for those seeking affordable leather furniture. But here’s the kicker: the Nauga was a total myth. Uniroyal, a rubber manufacturer in Naugatuck, Connecticut, invented a synthetic leather called Naugahyde in 1936, an homage to its town of origin. Unlike the successive layering of a traditional leather hyde, Naugahyde was constructed with a knit fabric backing coated with polyvinyl chloride. Under pressure to separate itself from the countless imitators that followed, Uniroyal hired George Lois, self-
Her research lies between architectural design and theory-with a focus on drawing and the relatio... more Her research lies between architectural design and theory-with a focus on drawing and the relationship between architecture and film-and has been published and exhibited internationally. She is the author of Marcel Duchamp and the Architecture of Desire (Routledge, 2013) and has contributed writing on themes such allegory, figural theory, stereoscopy and film in architecture to a wide range of publications.
Tropical Islands; or, how the architectural interior became the primary site of aesthetic mediation
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Papers by SHANE REINER-ROTH