The Arcades Project - Operi
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The Arcades Project - Operi

The Arcades Project - Operi The Arcades Project - Operi

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mation, actualization of the object but rather assume, for its part, the configuration of a rapid image. The small quick figure in contrast to scientific complacency. This configuration of a rapid image goes together with the recognition of the "now" in thingS.57 But not the future. Surrealist mien of things in the now; philistine mien in the future. The illusion overcome here is that an earlier time is in the now. In truth: the now the imuost image of what has been. For the flower section. Fashion journals of the period contained instructions for preserving bouquets. The mania for chamber and box. Everything came in cases, was covered and enclosed. Cases for watches, for slippers, for thermometers-all with embroidery on fine canvas. Analysis of dwelling. The difliculty here is that on dle one hand, in dwelling, the ageold-perhaps etclual-has to be recognized: image of that abode of dlC hmnan being in the matenml womb. And then, on the other hand, this motif of primal history notwithstanding, we must understand dwelling in its most extreme [ann as a condition of nineteenth-century existence, one with which we have begun to break. The original fann of all dwelling is existence not in the house but in the shelL TIle difference between the two: bears quite visibly the impression of its occupant. In the most extreme instance, the dwelling becomes a shell. The nineteenth cenlury, like no other century, was addicted to dwelling. It conceived the residence as the receptacle for the person, and it encased him, with all his appurtenances, so deeply in the dwelling's interior that one might be reminded of the inside of a compass case, where the instrument with all its accessories lies embedded in deep, usually violet folds of velvet. It is scarcely possible nowadays to think of all the things for which the nineteenth century invented etuis: pocket watches, slippers, egg cups, thennometers, playing cards. What didn't it provide with jackets, carpets, wrappers! The twentieth century, with its porosity and transparency, its tendency toward the well-lit and airy, has nullified dwelling in the old sense. Jumpingoff point of things , like the "homes for human beings" in Ibsen's Master Builder. Not by chance a drcuna rooted inJugendstil, which itself unsettled the world of the shell in a radical way. Today this world is highly precarious. Dwelling is diminished: for the living, tl1Tough hotel rooms; for the dead, through the crematorium. Dialectics at a standstill-this is the quintessence of the method. "To dwell" as a transitive verb. For example, "indwelt spaces"-this gives a sense of the hidden frenetic topicality of dwelling. This topicality consists in fashioning a shell. Kitsch. Its economic analysis. In what way is manifest here: the overproduction of commodities; the bad conscience of producers. Fashion. A sort of race for first place in the social creation. The running begins anew at every instant. Contrast between fashion and unifornl.

Thomasius, Vam Recht des Schlafi und der Traume (Halle, 1723). Simmel, Philosophische Kultur (fashion) . Am I the one who is called WE.? Or am I simply called WB.? This, in fact, is the question which leads into the mystery of a person's name, and it is very aptly formulated in a posthumous fragment by Hermann Ungar: "Does ti,e name attach to us, or are we attached to a name?" H. Ungar, "FragIl1ent," in Das Stid/wort, Newspaper of the Theater on Schiffbauer Damm (December 1929), p. 4. Waxworks in Lisbon, inJoachim Nettelbeck's autobiography. Anatole France, the series of novels with M. Bergeret. Das Kapital, vo!' 1, original edition, p. 40; vol. 3, pp. 1-200, especially 150ff.58 Tendency of the profit rate and the average profit rate to fall. Kafka, "Der Landarzt" (a dream) . the testament of the flaneur. Thus Hoffmann's great success in France. In the biographical notes to the five-volume collection of his latcr writings, we read: "Hoffmann was never really a friend of the great outdoors. VVhat mattered to him more than anything else was the human being-cOlmnunication with, observations about, the simple sight of, human beings. Whenever he went for a walk in summer, which in good weather happened every day toward evening, he always made for those public places where he would run into people. On the way, there was scarcely a tavenl or pastry shop where he would not look in to see whether anyone-and if so, who-might be there." Armature of physiognOIIlic studies: the flaneur, the collector, the forger, the gambler.

Thomasius, Vam Recht des Schlafi und der Traume (Halle, 1723).<br />

Simmel, Philosophische Kultur (fashion) .<br />

Am I the one who is called WE.? Or am I simply called WB.? This, in fact, is the<br />

question which leads into the mystery of a person's name, and it is very aptly<br />

formulated in a posthumous fragment by Hermann Ungar: "Does ti,e name<br />

attach to us, or are we attached to a name?" H. Ungar, "FragIl1ent," in Das<br />

Stid/wort, Newspaper of the <strong>The</strong>ater on Schiffbauer Damm (December 1929),<br />

p. 4. <br />

Waxworks in Lisbon, inJoachim Nettelbeck's autobiography. <br />

Anatole France, the series of novels with M. Bergeret. <br />

Das Kapital, vo!' 1, original edition, p. 40; vol. 3, pp. 1-200, especially 150ff.58<br />

Tendency of the profit rate and the average profit rate to fall. <br />

Kafka, "Der Landarzt" (a dream) . <br />

the testament of the flaneur. Thus Hoffmann's great success in France. In the<br />

biographical notes to the five-volume collection of his latcr writings, we read: "Hoffmann<br />

was never really a friend of the great outdoors. VVhat mattered to him more than anything<br />

else was the human being-cOlmnunication with, observations about, the simple sight of,<br />

human beings. Whenever he went for a walk in summer, which in good weather happened<br />

every day toward evening, he always made for those public places where he would<br />

run into people. On the way, there was scarcely a tavenl or pastry shop where he would<br />

not look in to see whether anyone-and if so, who-might be there." <br />

<br />

Armature of physiognOIIlic studies: the flaneur, the collector, the forger, the gambler.<br />

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