Becoming Gap of the (Bosphorus) Bridge

This site specific multi-media and multi-dimensional work explores the way that lines act as directives, directions, bridges, borders, points of inclusion or exclusion, and demarcations of human action and inaction. Influenced by the work of Teresita Fernandez, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, and Eva Hesse, it builds upon my past interest in the use of lines in space as part of painting and installation, connecting interior with exterior, symbolic with lived experience. It draws upon the implications, suggested forms, and symbolism of a new bridge and its "shadow bridge", the ruin of skeletal pylons still in place alongside. Starting with the notion of the bridge form as a singular connecting line, it is a visual inquiry of the dialogue that the "two" bridges represent: a dialogue implied but not as often voiced, including historical conversations about race and power as well as the more current social and political conditions.

2015

In 1909, Georg Simmel opens his essay entitled ‘Bridge and Door ’ in the following way, ‘[t]he image of external things possesses for us the ambiguous dimension that in external nature everything can be considered to be connected, but also as separated’ (Simmel, 1997: 170). Ambivalence, meaning occupying two spaces at one and the same

Academia.Edu (© R. Schleyer, M.A.), 2017

TO READ THE PREVIEW SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE PREVIEW SCROLL DOWN The Bridge carries the essential meaning of Objective Mind as a finite pathway between two eternities. Great bridges (an illustrative photo is provided) do this wherever they are constructed since they really express an eternal idea of infinite power--an insight gifted to us by the Serbian poet and novelist Ivo Andric (d. 1975). The skyline of the U.S. City of Saint Paul is read to reveal The Bridge in the guise of significant historical development, the final element of which (the massive Shrine of the Apostle Paul, 1907) here is interpreted as a further and final instantiation of The Bridge, representing the passage to individualized Divine Action by voluntary abnegation of finite will. Sudden appreciation arises of an Eternal Triangle encompassing Real Landscape. Are there others in the world? N.B.: Readers are advised of the subsequent substantial conceptual concretion of the foregoing thesis in a series of studies by the same author, to be found here: 'Totalization of Universal History by Meta-Analytic Ascent (URLs)' (https://www.academia.edu/43292436/Totalization_of_Universal_History_by_Meta-Analytic_Ascent_URLs_) Perceptive readers of the author's various studies will notice that the question posed here about "Real Landscape" is actually answered in the mentioned meta-analytic studies (particularly 'How the German Spirit Died' and 'How the Human Spirit Died'), where a global schema ("Concretion of the World Stage") does indeed represent the highest possible instauration of the Real Landscape as a logical process--one triadic conceptual solution underlain by sublated moments, e.g., Being (the Bridge), Essence (reflections of historically contingent development), and the Notion ("Begriff") or Concept (here the Holy Church), which in genuine cases totalizes the sublated components and represents (as repeatedly noted by idealists from Pythagoras to Boehme to Hegel), the End finding itself in the Beginning. Is this clear? The author would like to note that less-than-global solutions to the conundrum of Real Landscape have been posed and fulfilled (at least potentially) by the Creator of Creators, and are discernible in the Old World/New World dichotomy; the "One [Triadic] Continent Many Islands" notion accurately discerned by the influential Halford Mackinder (d. 1946); partially hidden formations, such as the geological sub-reality underlying Hadrian's Wall, which marks the spiritual separation of Scotland and England; and globally significant straits (the English Channel, the Bosporus Strait, the Korea Strait, etc.), and even the "negative" of such straits (such as the Isthmus of Panama). In other words, properly cogitated, the World is chock full of Real Landscape and this could easily fill the pages of a good book.

2021

Man’s dialogue with the Other is a process of building. It is not given unto us, nor does it simply happen on its own. Dialogue is a craft. Those practising it from the time immemorial have been compared to bridge builders. In the Balkans they were called neimars and treated with the respect due to the architects knowledgeable about the secrets of nature and being able to bring under the control the powers of chaos. Later, the name went into oblivion and together with it the secrets of the craft. Bridge building became a technique. The old tools were neglected, and choosing new ones no one cared for equipping them with the functions that neimars employed.

Bridges around the world have been considered physical and symbolic connectors of places, communities and cultures. By finding the cross connections between the physical and symbolic meanings associated with the bridges, we explore the idea of the bridge in two ways – the manner in which its identity is rewritten over time and the process by which the bridge, in return, starts to hold a value of its own. Constructed with the basic premise of establishing a physical connection between two points, the (river) bridge very often turns into a 'place' – over time, its weaves itself around stories and becomes a narrative of the past that is yet to be. In this innate quest, whereas very often communities are united and bonds are built, sometimes bridges stand to become the image of the divide as well. In both cases, however, the use of the bridge evolves and it ceases to be 'just a bridge'-it becomes an interactive zone for people visiting it, passing by and crossing it as daily commuters, squatters, hawkers or even a stage or backdrop for social and cultural celebrations/ festivals. In this paper, we take an in-depth look at two bridges in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India – the Purana Pul on the river Musi in Hyderabad (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh) and the Prakasam Barrage on the river Krishna near Vijayawada (in the present day Andhra Pradesh). Through these two examples, we explore the how our relation to the past changes with time and how these bridges have become the canvass for reflecting the changing political identities and iconography – it depicts the nature of the people and their orientation to grasp on to the past or remain in the present.

Lechevalier, Arnaud; Wielgohs, Jan (Ed.): Borders and Border Regions in Europe. Changes, Challenges and Chances. Bielefeld: transcript, S. 45-67.

Several authors refer to Simmel's sociology of space and discuss its potential analytical value.2 Some of the more controversial aspects of Simmel's approach are, firstly, his use of the euclidic, and with it the idea of an absolute space, frequently subsumed under the metaphor of the container. Second, his purported support for the thesis that social ties are becoming emancipated from space. Finally, his analytical framework for a sociology of space in general. It is argued that his analytical frame, constructed on the building blocks of the "qualities of spaces" (Raumqualitäten) and of "spatial formations" (Raumgebilde), is not systematic. Moreover, Simmel's approach is criticized as illustrative rather than conceptual.

Man’s dialogue with the Other is a process of building. It is not given unto us, nor does it simply happen on its own. Dialogue is a craft. Those practising it from the time immemorial have been compared to bridge builders. In the Balkans they were called neimars and treated with the respect due to the architects knowledgeable about the secrets of nature and being able to bring under the control the powers of chaos.

Bridges have been a means of communication for people since the Roman times, allowing for easier movements between one place and another. With time, physical bridges evolved architecturally and aesthetically; moreover, the idea of ‘bridging’ also developed, merging two or more entities that apparently were not connected. The Mallorcan author Carme Riera uses precisely this idea of ‘bridging’ in one of her masterpiece novels, En el último azul (1994). Although recounting primarily the story of the Jews in Mallorca during the Inquisition, Riera also plays with the idea of bridges, both from a literal and metaphorical point of view. The two types of bridges that I will analyze in this essay are the “broken bridge” between Mallorca and Livorno (the Italian city to which the Jews wanted to flee in order to escape the Inquisition, although failing to do so) and the metaphorical bridge that the author creates between Mallorca’s past and present. Riera herself explains in the novel that although the characters are fictitious, the main historical events in the novel are true. In fact, Riera did not want to create a historical novel, but a work of fiction; however, she also did not want the people of today’s Mallorca to forget about the past and the terrible death and torture of the many thousands of Jews who lived on the island. Carme Riera toys with the idea of bridges, presenting to her readers two different types of connector: a real, yet broken, bridge between Mallorca and Livorno, and a metaphorical bridge between the events of the past and the reality of the present in Mallorca.

How to traverse noise? Let us remind ourselves of the main principles of Serres' hermetic methodology:

grant#2015/03166-2, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) This paper proposes a reflection on my artistic praxis concerning rivers and their environment. My last piece, " Chattahoochee " , was created together with Síssi Fonseca during an artist residency at the Columbus State University, in Georgia, USA. During one month we worked together with the students from the Columbus State University, gathering their impressions, stories and feelings about the Chattahoochee river. The Chattahoochee River has a long history of wars, including the American Civil War, the Frontiers Wars, the removal of Native Americans, etc. The river forms the border between Alabama and Georgia, dividing and connecting them at the same time. My installation aimed to reconnect the Chattahoochee landscape with its history, mixing images, materials and forms seen at the Chattahoochee with texts about its history. Instead of telling the history in a didactic way, this work emphasizes the sensations of place and time, concerning the individual perceptions about the environment. Besides the installation, made with aquariums, water, wood, paraffin wax and other materials, we also created a video and some performances with the students. In the performance " Stream " , developed together with the students of the CSU, the sense of collectiveness is represented by movements of the group interacting with the installation and reflecting the flow of the Chattahoochee. The work includes also a video with images of the Chattahoochee River layered by texts about its history. These texts were founded in plaques that stay along the Riverwalk and describe several issues related to racial, environmental, and political conflicts that belong to this site. The main goal of this artwork was to instigate site-specific reflections, making people thinking on the place they live, its natural environment, history and politics.