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COLUMBUS CIRCLE, NYC

Revivification: the renewal, restoration, reclamation of life.

The dystrophic decay of the urban ecosystem is catalyzed through the confusion wrought between memory-space and memory-place. Memory-space is a psycho-receptacle, a fluctuating - constantly evolving - site, indispensable to the human psyche. It is the acknowledgement of our past, of our place in the universe. We need memory-space for the same reasons we prostrate ourselves at the feet of religion (or, for that matter, the ego). Memory keep us from becoming mired down in our own self-(un)importance.

However, the function of memory-space has no inherent tie to place. Memory-place is embodied by the decaying remnants of an architectural past, the petrified detritus of a time gone by. Peripheral pieces of history that have been preserved É for no better reason than the preservation itself.

Inspired by the cultural significance of spoken sounds, the revivifying nature of pronunciation served as the mediator between memory-space and place, interjecting new life into a rotary of relics.

NOTES

Studio Critic: Evan Douglis
Fall 2002