Foreign matter ( Valid until 30 June 2010 – Day 72- Day 64)
In his discussion on urban space, Fumihiko Maki applies his Asian origin to Western education, to challenge the (one) dimensionality of homeland/outland binary. The point that he uses to strand this, is the term “foreign matter”, a term he borrows from Koichi Isoda study on Tokyo.
“ A visitor from without is always perceived as ‘foreign matter’ in a stable cultural sphere.”
For Maki, homeland and outland are mental landscapes, within which foreign matter exists as objects. The homeland is a landscape already inscribed with time. The outland, however, is a landscape in which time and space are both obscure. ( Maki 2008 , p.119). But for my research the most interesting division that he tries to apply is considering the outland as an imaginary created space, which is gradually transforming the hard-edged, tactile world into a world of different dimensions. In this case, the screen can be considered as an outland, especially with all the screen devices (mobile phones, lap top computer, GPS devices) that are mediating our everyday life. Homeland is a spatial image carrying the full weight of time. It possesses a clear visual pattern and a recognized structure of meaning. The screen as outland is liberated from time, visually amorphous and in a state of suspended meaning. In the homeland, space is controlled by the powerful will of the group, but in the outland, on the screen, the individual’s imagination is permitted to wander. ( Maki 2008, p.120).
The notion of the screen as outland, come to the point with sites in cities/towns that can both perform the public and the private role. Reversal in roles of public and private space is taking place and emergence of other domains should be notes. Screen bears this characteristic; screens are dual sites, public site that can be experienced as private in the most fundamental sense. Even so, people today are able to maintain their presence in public space in the privacy of their rooms through the screens. Screens are emerging as countless public spaces. But, as Maki concluded it is entirely up to every individual to determine how this homogeneous space is to be manipulated. Also, how foreign can be created, perpetuated and reinforced through the screen as an outland space with suspended meaning. In contemporary society, everyone is empowered through screen* to a certain level and must bear responsibility for the results. (Maki 2008, p.129)
I remember the first time when my parents took me to visit a mosque. There are beautiful Ottoman mosques in my city and as Christians, we hardly every visit them. My parents love the mosques, and the Ottoman architecture. My father bought me ice cream from the Old Bazaar. We ate it while crossing the Open market and looking at spices, fresh fruit and vegetables, chickens and eggs, underwear and linens. He talks constantly about the shapes, and corners and angels and colors…I scarcely hear anything, but I enjoy the security of his velvety voice. And then we entered the mosque’s yard, it was flooded with roses – white, purple, yellow, red…We took the shoes off, and entered. My father leaves us at the door. I am puzzled. My mom pulls my hand. I look at the walls, abstract shapes in blue and orange, it’s so silent. We sit in the left corner, behind the wooden screen. Through the holes, I stare at the bare foots of kneeling men. It feels like home, but so foreign. It smells different. I look through the screen, it is like a different country, outland…And then with the corner of my eye I see my father, between all those silhouettes that go up and down in a repetitive movement. Still and with a flickering smile on his face. Maybe we are home anyway.
