The Genealogy of Models: The Hammer and the Song

Author(s): Sanford Kwinter

Source: ANY: Architecture New York, No. 23, Diagram Work: ATA MECHANICS FOR A
TOPOLOGICAL AGE (1998), pp. 57-62
Published by: Anyone Corporation
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41856105
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gestures schema

character s responsiveness to variousconditions. The onlything Itis forthisreasonthat, inthisseminar [Encore], Lacanplaces
youcan see of themapis thatwhichis inscribedin thatpartof rightaway, at thesideofjouissance, itsOther, namelylove-
theterritory thatyou do see, as Christopher Walkenindicated, which,on thecontrary, is itselfrepresentable, bya vectorthat
becauseyou neversee theterritory whole in thewayyou can goes from one point to the other. And, we won't evenhesitate
look overtheentiremap,theentirediagram,you justsee bits to bring the vector of return, which we find in a fundamental
and pieces.Onlythesebitsand piecesof responsiveness, these cellon Lacan'sgraph. Hisentiregraphis constructed on these
bits and pieces of entanglement, give you the character - or departures and returns. ("The Drive is Speech," 20)
moreprecisely: it is onlythesebitsand piecesfromwhichyou
willattempt, to construct
retroactively, somecharacter. It is thesedepartures andreturns thatmotivate, thatanimate,
HereisTheodor Adorno 's beautiful quoteaboutvectors: "Beauty ourcharacter.
is eithertheresultant offorcevectors oritis nothing atall" ("Func- Well,that'smycue.Timeto depart.There'smorebutthere's
tionalism Today," 41). But I would say,perhaps beautifully, alwaysmore.Theselasttwosectionson anamorphosis
less that and vec-
forces aremoststrongly represented astheresult ofrepresentations of torial responsiveness havetakenme to the pointwherethese
forces inresponsiveness
(andthusinprocess andintransformation) ,and departures and returns arethedifferential vectors,thedifferen-
notas anend-resultant, notas a summing up. "The subjectis neither tial motives, of our character, of our architectural characters.
a result,"AlainBadiouhassaid,"noran origin.Itis thelocalstatus of Whatis leftto discussis how motivesmightbe developedinto
theprocedure, a configuration thatexceedsthesituation" ("On a motivie improvisations, how points might be developed
Finally Objectless Subject," 27). througha processof counterpoint. ForthisI will need to have
Likewatchinga kickoff returnfora touchdownin a football ChuckJonesandHughKennerandTexAvery return, alongwith,
game: all the tension and drama of the kick returner's gestures say,John Coltrane and Public Enemy. And Glenn Gould.
wouldbe eviscerated iftheforceswerereducedto theresultant Another timethen:anotherinterest, anotherpleasure.
thatis merelytherun;thatis, ifall therelationalforcesat work Another me then.Andthen,well,anotheryou.
in theresponsivegesturesof therun- theotherteamtrying to
tackletherunner, hisown teamblockingtheotherteamor get-
tingin hisway,thenearout-of-bounds at thesideline,thefinal
23.57
sprintto thegoal line- wereentirely erasedfromview,so that THE GENEALOGY OF MODELS:THE HAMMERANDTHE SONG
the only thingone would see would be some resultant wacky Sanford Kwinter
dancein some abstract spaceby somehelmetednutcasewitha
big numberon hisshirt.
Thisis whyit is important to avoidthemeredirectexpres-
sion(ism) of forcesas resultants, lestwe as designersbecome, Designmethodology todayseemsto wantnothingmorethana
say,glorified trafficengineersinstrumentally calcifying maps of clearer and more complete viewoftherelationship between diagram
circulation -
flows asifthosemapsofflowswerethesociallyand and worldly concreteness. The role that the conceptof diagramis
psychologically complexterritory thatis thecirculation ofindi- nowplaying in ourattempts to theorize material realityin thelate
viduals throughinstitutionalized spaces. Rather, architecture 20th century is not so different from the way the concept of the
mightgesturerelationally to these forces,inferring forces as "schema" was used by Kant to theorize Newtonian in
reality thelate
wellas expressing forces,whichis a way,to shifttheassociation 18th century. Both seek to serve as synthetic explanatory devices
yetagain,backto music,ofbeingsimultaneously on andoffthe (thoughtheyareno lessrealforthat)thatopenup a spacethrough
beat, developinga syncopationof beats, a syncopationof whicha perceptible reality maybe related totheformal system that
(responsesto) forces. organizes it,whether this latter is a priori or a posteriori the
as in
Bothmaterializing themapandnotmaterializing (butalluding Kantian/Humian version.
to) themap,happilyplaying between the map and the territory. Yetanothergreatthinker ofthesameerawho mustnotbe left
In animationand in humanperformance thelessonis that outofconsideration is Goethe.Goethe,itmaybe argued,was the
thesevectorsofcharacterization areexpressednotas somegen- first tohaverejectedthe(apodictic)Kantian-Newtonian modelin
eralmovements, notwithsome generalshapes,butas physical favor of themodern genetic interpretation of form. With respectto
and vocal characterizations,7 as gesturesin relationand in theformproblem, inotherwords,Goetheplacedhiswageron the
as
response, gestic movements of complex motivation between side of development,lodging theexplanatory devicein thespaceof
desireand drive- actionbeingthatwhichis suspendednotjust abstractinteractions takingplace over time, so thatformwas
betweenvariousdesires,butbetweendesireanddrive:between alwaysmoving and represented only visible,frozensection
a
thatwhichthe characterdesiresand thatwhichthe character through a morefundamental organizing logicthatitselfcouldbe
does not desire,but nevertheless is compulsively drivento do intuited,analytically described,but neveractuallyheld in the
(thisis theLacaniannotionofdrive): "Daffyrushesin andfears hands.Goetheis the fatherof themodernconceptof diagram
to threadatthesametime"(.Amuck, 239). insofar as he insistedon formation as thelocusof explanation, not
Thisbringsme finally to thethirdofthethreedictionary defini- simpleappearance. Thisecologicalapproachcanbe foundin allof
tionsforvector: "a behavioral fieldofforcetoward orawayfromthe Goethe'sworkon NaturalPhilosophy and on intuition, butit is
performance ofvarious acts;broadly: drive."So itshouldnotcomeas most explicitly elaborated in his scientific writings,especially
toomuchofa surprise ifinhisdiscussion oftheLacanian notionof thoseon botanicalsubjects.A centralfeature of theseinquiries
drive, Jacques- AlainMillerspeaksnotonlyofforces toward andaway was his researchintothe "Ur-forms," a deeplymisunderstood
fromtheperformance ofvariousacts,notonlyofconflict andlove concepttodaythatin factprobably represents thefirst cybernetic
and otheradversarial situations, butspeaksof thesesituations by theory of form since the pre-Socratics and the atomists. Goetheis
speaking ofvectors: also rightly credited with having invented the term morphology.
Jean-
Luc "Introduction
Godard, aune
veritable
histoire
ducinema/'
Camera
Obscura
8-9-10
(1982):
74-87. Jacques
Lacan, VII:
Seminar The Ethics
ofPsychoanalysis
(New
York:W.W.Norton,
1992).
Jean-Luc
Godard, onGodard
Godard (NewYork:
DaCapo,1986). Jacques-Alain "The
Miller,DriveisSpeech," 1(1997):
UMBR(a) 15-33.
Stephen Renaissance
Greenblatt, FromMore
Self-Fashioning: toShakespeare
(Chicago: of Gerhard
University (Bolzano:
Paintings
Richter, Museum ofModern 1996).
Art,
Chicago 1980).
Press,
Angelika "Brechs
Hurwicz, Work
with inBrecht
Actors," asTheyKnewHim, Hubert
ed., Witt
(New Partsofthis were
essay originally inJuly
presented 1997
atmorphe: aconference
nineteen97, held
atDeakin
Uni-
York: 1974).
International, inAustralia,
versity and
inOctober
1997atRecent
Work:
Architecture
andthe
Politics
of and
AdvocacyIdentity,
Chuck Chuck
Jones, Amuck:
TheLife
andTimes
ofanAnimated
Cartoonist
(NewYork: Straus the
Farrar, conference
assemblage held
atthe Columbia thanks
University.
My tothe of
those
organizers and
events,to
and 1989).
Giroux, The
GrahamFoundation
for
Advanced inthe
Studies Fine under
Arts, whose Ihave
largessebeen forms
exploring
Chuck Chuck
Jones, Reducks: from
Drawing the
FunSideofLife
(New
York: 1996).
Warner, of inarchitecture.
attention
Hugh Chuck
Kenner, AFlurry
Jones: ofDrawings
(Berkeley: ofCalifornia
University 1994).
Press,
Jacques Seminar
Lacan, XI:The
FourFundamental ofPsychoanalysis
Concepts (New York:
W.W.
1977).
Norton,

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 rubber sheet schema
topologized

FromGoethethen,we weresupposedtohavelearnedthatdia- andthe"percept" inWhat isPhilosophy

?,albeitno longerhereatallin
grams do not themselves produce form (at least in no classical a Kantian vein.
senseofthisword)butrather thatdiagrams emitformative andorganiza- ForKant,theworldofexperience, to putitbriefly, was divided
tionalinfluence,
shape-giving pressuresthatcannothelp but be intoa "material" and a "formal" component. Material referred to
"embodied" in allsubsequent states
ofthegivenregionofconcrete sense-qualities foundon thesideoftheobject,oftheworld,or,in
realityuponwhichtheyact.Thisactivity represents a verycom- theKantian jargon, ofthe"manifold." Theformal domain, thatwhich
of
plexplay hybridization andcreolization, becauseeverycompo- we areinterested in whenwe wantto understand thegenealogy of
nentofwhatI am callingconcreterealityis itselftheexpression thediagram, belongs on the side ofthe perceiving mind oragent;it
of manypreviousdiagramsthathave only temporarily been refersto an a prioriorganization - thisis Kant'sNewtonian
resolved(or "tested/'as in an experiment) and lodgedin form. absoluteness speaking- a kindof engramor partitioning algo-
Theviewofreality I
that havealwaystriedtofoster in design(and rithm thatletssenseexperience - matter - enterintorelation with
whichI imagineI amdrawing fromNietzsche)is precisely one in itself to formhigherlevelmeanings andunities.(Thismaywellbe
whichtheplayof formis seenas a perpetual communication of theproto-origin of 20th-century gestalttheory as well.)Thefor-
modulusesorimpetuses - generating centers - theverythingthat mal,however,
appearson thesideofthesubjective, itcorresponds
we seemtodayto be agreeingto call diagrams. Form,or world, to thea priorischemawhichon itsown is hollowand mustbe
one mightsay,is buttheconcreteresidueof theincessant com- filledin withdataacquiredfromoutsidethrough thesenses.For
merceand conversation (or to
strife, use the Greek term) between Kant, each term of the is
pair inseparable fromtheother:subject
diagrams. Thesediagrams I wouldclaimarefundamentally geomet- and object,perception andreality, schemaand senses.Otherwise
ricin nature, thoughthewordgeometry hererefers to themodern, theworldwouldsimplycollapseintoshapeless abstractionor into
non-Euclidean or "rubbersheet"variety thatdealswithtransitions a senseless kaleidoscopic scattering. Itwas the taskof the20th-cen-
and theirlogic.Thoughthe word topology tendsto be bandied turyneo-Kantians, anditis ourtaskas well,totopologize thefieldof
abouttodaylikea twopenny shibboleth, it does, fromthelong theencounter ofeachpairofterms.
view,appearto represent a massaddressof thenew,emerging Theneo-Kantian biologist Jakob Johann vonUexkllplayedan
"epistemology." Diagramsareactive,andtheviewthatseesthem important roleinachieving thiswhenheinvented theconcept ofthe
as mereblueprints to be translated orreproduced is outdated.The Umwelt, thatbroaderecologyof features and cues in theexternal
23.58
diagramis theengineofnovelty, goodas wellas ill. worldwithwhicheverynervous system is linkedthrough commu-
EventhoughKantianism mayhaveappearedto havetriumphed nicative circuits.
TheearlyPanofsky, on theotherhand,showedhow
overnaturalism
historically andromanticism, thiswasnotaltogetherperspective playedsucha diagrammatic rolein theformation of a
thecase.Therelations betweenperception, and
concept, reality (or cognitive, and
technological, aesthetic gestalt,and Cassirer devel-
"nature") became the centralproblemsof modernistand opedhistheory ofsymbolic form, whichagainpositstheoperation
post-Enlightenment philosophy, andwhileKant'ssystem dominated of a generative, topologizing diagramthatengenders bothsubject
debaterightinto the 20thcentury, manycreative revisionsand andobjectinanygivencontext.
refinements were made to accommodate the new realitiesand Thetermtopology is usedherenotonlytointroduce theshifting,
knowledges of the modern century.The Kantian "schema,"as I connected meshwork inwhichformandmatter playouttheiralter-
arguedabove,represented a profoundly new typeof concept,but natingstruggle andtheirdance,butalso to insistthatthediagram
onewhichwascapableofundergoing substantial interpretiveadap- not be understood as a reductionofthemanifold butrather as a con-
tation.Someof thebestknownand mostimpressive examples of traction, or,to use the medieval a
term, complication ofreality.
Thisis
thistypeofdevelopment canbe foundin theworkofearlycentury important becauseonce complicated or enfolded, everyworldly
neo-Kantian aestheticians suchas in the"symbolic form"theories thingharborswithinitselfthe perpetualcapacityto explicate or
- orwhatonecannowcallthe
ofErnst CassirerandErwinPanofsky. Indeeditis thesesamegeneral unfold. Thediagram topologized -
schema
relationshipsthat have been
recently developedby GillesDeleuze the of
represents plasticaspect reality: subjectandobjectnotonly
andFlixGuattari, specifically therelationsbetweenthe"concept" partially mergeand overlap, butcan virtually masquerade as one

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 compositional event incorporeal

another. Thisobviously posesa wholenewsetofproblems andpos- offields. Fieldsareoneofthemodelswithwhichscientists explain

sibilitiesforthetheory ofperception, anditcertainly freesus from theincidents ofinfluence thatwe arehereagreeing byconvention to
static,abstracting, and vision-based of
concepts space. Somewhere calldiagrams. There arise particular problems, of course,when one is
along the line one has jettisoned both Newton and Kant,despite the careless in developing models to explain how remote events, or
factthattheyserved as theprimary ladderstoourmodern position. events separated in timerather thanspace,arerelated(suchas inthe
So whatis ourmodernposition? Clearly thenotionof thedia- workof RupertSheldrake), buthistory is fullof provocative non-
gram that Brian Boigon and I developed in our "Five Appliances for metaphysical models to explain such phemomena as well.I bring all
theAlphabetical City" article of 1989 was derived direcdy from Fou- of this into the equation because I like to claim that what we are
caults development ofthenotioninDiscipline andPunish andinthefirst dealingwithhereis simultaneously a newtypeofmaterialism (as
volumeoftheHistory ofSexuality ,andatthetimewewere Foucault
(lesdispositifs) calledit,"unmaterialisme de l'incorporel") anda kindof
happyto do so without addinga greatdealtoit.I amnotsurethat enlightened neo-vitalism. It callsfora newepistemology ofaction
morehasbeenaddedto itsince,exceptforthemarvelous elabora- and event,and sees formsand thingsas merechimeras of these
tionsofDeleuze,thoughthesearestillonlythat:elaborations ofthe underlying diagrammatic processes. Politicsmust become the poli-
Foucaldian theme.Itis worthpointing outthoughthatthediagram ticsofthediagram andhistory mustbe seenas thehistory ofdia-
conceptfunctions in Foucault s prisonbookas ifitwereitself, a dia- grammatic life,notmerely oftheforms itthrew up.
gram.In other words, it functions as an embedded separate
entity, yet the
Approaching incorporeal is one of the majorchallenges of
There were times - more innocent
indissociable fromtheconcrete work-event (thebookandthesys- contemporary designpractice.
temof conceptsknownas Surveiller etpunir) thatit animates and in times, tobe sure- whenthiswasdonewithverylittle self-conscious-
whichitresides. So howthendo youisolatea diagram fromthecon- ness and withsweepingbrilliance;one thinksof the workof
creteevents itgenerates? Thisis whereDeleuzehasmadehiscontri- Moholy-Nagy, theconstructivists, certainfilmmakers, fromEisen-
butionto theproblem, byidentifying thediagram witha classof steinto Kubrick, of Buckminster Fuller, Robert Smithson, theaes-
phenomena thathecallsabstract machines. thetico-philosophical urbanist movements of thelate 1950s and
Abstract machinesareprecisely whattheyclaimto be: abstract '60s, etc.Thesepractitioners seemedinstinctively to understand
becausetheyareconceptually andontologically distinctfrommater- theirroleas intermediaries, and theyhad a clearintuition of the
ial reality,yettheyarefullyfunctioning machines, thatis, theyare interstitial that
space they had to occupy in order to becomediagramma- 23.59
agencies of assemblage, organization, and deployment. Reality, to I
tises. often make the argument to my students that thisspace is the
a bit
speak reductively, is comprised both of matter and the organiza- space at once ofsynthesis, and
integration, catastrophe, itis the space
tionof thatrawmatter intodeployable or
objects complexes. The from which forms are launched and filtered, not made. In biology
argument, stated simply, is as follows: toevery organized entity there one is quiteat ease discussing thedistinct domainsof genotype
corresponds a micro-regime offorces thatendowsitwithitsgeneral (wheredatais encodedin a four-letter languageof rudimentary
and
shape program. Every is a
object composition of forces, and the and
instructions) phenotype marvelously(the richworldofnovel
compositionalevent is the work or expression of an abstractmachine. shapes and their concatenations) and, with a bitmorestrain, ofan
WhatI callthe"conductivity hypothesis" is a majorcomponent of intermediary space that links the two and where regulatory processes
some recentmathematical work,particulary by RenThomand guidethefirst intothesecond.It wouldalreadybe something for
some "experimental" or computer-algorithm-based mathemati-designers toadopta "mechanistic genetic" position and conceive of
cians, as well as work in the biological sciences. Itstatesthat abstract a genotypic as
diagrammatismunderlying phenotypic all or formal
machines,or organizedshapingforces,or micro-morphological expression. Andyet,we mustinsistthatthediagramliesnowhere
regimes, are themselves partof largerassemblages, largerabstract elsebutin thespacebetween thetwo,inthewildfieldofcybernetic
machines which
through they communicate as ifacross a singlecontinuum. interactions (what Deleuze, after Bergson, has calledactualisation) ,
Eventsin one placetransmit theireffects and successesto other regulatory and
pressures channels, and control loops. Once again
places,andindeedto otherscales.Thisis nota newphlogiston or then,onemisunderstands thediagram whenoneconceives ofitas a
ether theory, butrather, isentirely inkeeping withthemodern theory template rather thanas a flow.

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 dynamical systems theory pattern

Thisiswheretheproblem ofdiagrammatisi takeson itspostwar discontinuity between itselfandtheworldthatsurrounds it.Thefig-

configuration. After World WarII there wasanextraordinary increase urebothintegrates itssurroundings thewaya lensfocuses andintensi-
in thebeliefandapplication ofscienceandengineering toeveryday fiesambient light,butitalsointegrates thedifferential events in the
life,whichbroughtalongan increasing application of invisible ambient environment (thechanges) which function as a kindof
material logicstoexplainandgenerate Itwouldbe simplistic motorforit,a thermodynamic
reality. potential tobe tapped.
to pointit out withoutsupplying a muchlongerargument and Nextwould be the phenomenon of organization.
Organization
explanation,but the adventof controllednuclearprocesses, playeda central rolein theUfesciencesin the1920sand '30s and
microwave and radarsignalprocessing, industrial applications of thenagainin the1960sto addressthephilosophical impassesthat
synthetic chemistry, and were
ballistics, cryptology almostentirely stillcarried overfrom theoldermechanist-vitalist debates ofthe19th
madepossiblebyboththeoretical andpractical advances ininforma- century. Thetaskoftheorganization concept was toexplaindifferen-
tionscience.Industrial societies becameincreasingly saturated with tiation,dissymmetry, and specialization in thedevelopment of a
thesenewembedded logics and thecorresponding motor habits that form, because in the 1920s most scientists were already abandoning
theyproduced, buttheybecamesubjugated bytheminvisibly, accord- theideaofa direct readout theory ofthediagram. Organization relies
ingtowhatonecouldcalla "subtlecoup."Thediagram is todayvery on thenotionofpattern, itattempts to explainhowpattern canarise
usefully understood as informational. At presentthe sciencesof uniquelythrough internal controls and how thesecontrolfactors
cybernetics and information are givingus the most useful under- themselves are how
sustained, theytakeon a direction, how they
standing of the dynamic, algorithmic nature ofdiagrams. assumetheappearance ofautonomy, orlife. Theconcept oforganiza-
Cybernetics canbe saidtotarget threeprimary phenomena inthe tiontargets primarily theemergence of sequencedeventsas the
naturaland thenonnatural world:integration, organization, and source of developmental mechanics and formal Thesewere
stability.
coordination. Thesephenomena undeniably existin the world, but the
exacdy questions that Foucault was askingabouthistory at an
sciencehasneverbeenabletointerrogate thesephenomena in their institutionalanddiscursive level,butithadnotoccurred tohimthat
customary numerical or"hard"terms. Philosophy hasalways needed his methodof analysiswas alreadydrawingon thisparadigm
tostepin,alongwithsomemakeshift methods inthesocialsciences through theworkofhisteacher Georges Canguilhem. In anycase,if
and,occasionally, aesthetics. Whenwe inquireintothenatureand organization explains differentiation (novelty) andstability (persis-
activityofthediagram todaywearereally asking: "Whensomething tencein being),thenthethirdtermI am positing - coordination -
23.60
appears,whatagenciesare responsible forgivingthisparticular explains howthings actually move,howthey"transition" smoothly,
shapeto thisparticular appearance?" One modern information sci- even gracefully between a greatvariety ofstates, howtheyemittem-
ence,complexity theory, or dynamical systems theory, is seekingto poral,rhythmic morphologies orcoherent behaviors.
reconfigure the answer to this questionbypositingtheperpetual Now integration, organization, and coordination are each
interaction ofmoving, evolving systems:oneinvisible (thediagram) abstract nounswithoutdemonstrable correlates in thephysical or
andonevisible(thereal). chemical world. Yetthisdoesnotmeanthattheyareimmaterial - far
Theprimary phenomena studied bythenewsciences areactually fromit!- onlythattheyareincorporeal. Theirmateriality quitesimply
visibleto,or intuitable a
by, livingobserver, butnotto a nonliving is notmanifested in spacebutrather in time.Itis in time,I would
one,sayto a cameraor a measuring device.Take,forexample,the argue, wherethediagram operates.
of
phenomenon integration: What is it? Where is it located? To These threephenomenathatI haveidentified withcybernetic
the
explain problem I will it
simplify greatly by limiting it to a or complexity models can all be groupedundera largerrubricor
figure/ groundexample. Anactiveground, onecansay,posesa con- continuumthatHenriBergsonreferred to as thatof "duration."
tinualthreat to thefigure uponorwithinitunlessthatfigure ( 1) is Cyberneticsisthescienceofthematerialism - orthematerialization -
itselfactiveandflexible, (2) is in continualcommunication with the oftime.Thereis a lotof discussion today around the problem of virtual-
groundthrough feedback loopsmovingin bothdirections, and (3) ly,andnotonlyinthetrivial senseinwhichonetalks aboutobjects in
constitutes withinitself a system ofevengreater density ofcorrela- synthetic sensory environments. In Bergsonian andDeleuzianontol-
tionsandexchanges so thatitcanthrow up a boundary oforder, ora ogyvirtuality playsan important rolein explaining theproblem of

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 hylomorphic negentropy

appearance in theworlditself andtheforcesthatmanifest through differences and lodgedintoa salientform.Virtualis linkedto

suchappearance. According to this ontology (developed primarily in actual through a developmental passagefromone stateto another,
Deleuzes Difference andRepetition), a critical distinction is maintainedone in whichthefreedifference is incarnated or assembled.It
betweentwo modelsof morphogenesis, two axes or modelsof passesfromone moment-event in orderto emergelater- differ-
On theonehand,there is thePossible- Realaxisand,on ently, -
uniquely withinanother. (Thinkofa winninglottery ticket
appearance.
theother, theaxisof theVirtual- Actual. Of courseto speakof a andhowuselessitwouldbe tocopyit.)Theactualdoesnotresem-
Bergsonian-Deleuzian ontology inthefirst placeis topresuppose a set blethevirtual(as therealdidthepossible);itsruleis rather oneof
ofcommon principles inthetwosystems. I willsuggest justtwohere: difference, innovation, or creation. Actualization is differentiation,
theideathatBeingis theexpression ofa fundamental mobility and, because it occurs in time and with time. Every moment represents a
second, that there aretwo types of difference - those that appear in successive individuation-differentiation of matter from the state
spaceand thosethatappearin time- butthatonlythetypethat whichprecededit (everymomenta uniquelottery ticket).Actual-
appears intime is real. ization is the free movement, the capture and the of
materialization
Whatexistsaroundus is actual.Butaccording towhattemplate difference. Reality becomes a flow - an irreducible actualizing
ordiagram doesthisexpressed worldcome?According tothePos- duration thatinflects, combines, andseparates - thatleavesnothing
sible-Real (hylomorphic) model,everything real would be the untransformed.
expression of a Possible that preceded it,which was identical toit,and Every thingis given,andarrives, in time.Itsqualities, itsaffects,
whichwasfully pre-given. Reality according to thismodel is a mere and itsstructure be
may apprehended space, in but in adopting this
selectionofimagesthathasbeenprepared inadvance. Thisis thetype posture we arealready breaking the world into abstractions. In time,
ofpseudo-ormechanistic diagrammatism thatis stillprevalent today and onlyin time,do matter andworldrevealthemselves. In other
butwhichone wishesto avoid.Anintervening principle - thatof words,timeis real.
selection- guarantees thatnoteverypossibleversion ofreality will To acknowledge thattheworldis theproductof actualization
rather while another - limitation - - the exfoliation of diagrams - is to acknowledge that
appear,but onlyone; process processes
assuresthattheprocessof realization/expression willtakeplacein time,on itsown,is bothproductive andconcrete. It doesnotfol-
successive stages rather than all at once. This latterprinciple (limita- low that this set of notions necessarily leads to an untenable or
tion)might appear toconstitute a time principle, though in fact it does naive vitalism. As Bergson said, "Reality makes or remakes itself,
23.61
so onlyin themostmechanical, external, andabstract sense:reality butitis neversomething made."Thisclearrejection ofanyexternal
wouldbe nothing buta picture ofpossibility repeated(thisis thebad agencyin theunfolding of thingsis unambiguous evidencethat
the
repetition, pseudo-diagram), and theworld of possibility would Bergson was more ofa "neo-" vitalist than a classical, ormetaphys-
be nothing morethanan unchanging storehouse ofimagesexisting ical,vitalist ofthe19th-century type. In other words, Bergson was
fromtimeimmemorial. Theworldhereis always already formed and a thinker of immanent, rather than transcendent causes. This means
giveninadvance, a deadmechanical object. Bergson believed thistobe his systemsoughtto explainrealityin thesametermsin which
thefundamental fallacy ofWestern metaphysics: theidea thatthere reality is given,withouthavingrecourseto "extra"principles that
a "realm
exists ofpossibility" underlying the world of actuality. His so- come, like divine endowments, from outside the real itself.Thus
called"ontologization" ofthevirtual belongstohisproject offreeing the ultimatequestion,froman ontologicalperspective, would
thediagramand its dynamoof becomingfromthismetaphysicalseemtobe,"Whyis theuniverse creative, rather thannot,andwhy
basis,indeed, toestablishing a neo-materialist basisfortime. is it so despitethehighcostof creation(negentropy)?" Butof
Now thevirtual, we aretold,is real,evenifitis notyetactual. coursethisquestionis alreadyneo-vitalist beforewe haveeven
(Diagrams arerealbutincorporeal.) Whatdoesthismean?Itmeans begun.It is so forthesimplereasonthatwe presupposethatthe
thatthevirtualis relatedto theactual,notbya transposition - a universe is driven, thatitmoves,integrates - thatitis alive.Indeed,
- organi- itis notevennecessary -
to positaliveness merely thequalitiesof
becomingreal butbya transformation through integration,
zation,andcoordination. Letmeexplain. Thevirtual is realbecause drivenness, movement, and integration, threeof the primary
itexistsin thisreality asa freedifference,notyetcombined withother tenetsofformtheory in thelifesciences.

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 bio-logic will

It has beenclaimedbyone complexity theorist that"all com- thought fromtheclichsofreductionism (fromclassicalscience

plexitymovestowardbiology,"and thisis no trivialassertion. and numericalexplanation). These targetmacroscopic, hybrid,
Indeedcomplexity isthemovement towardbiology(somemight and globalphenomena, and theyconceiveof themas open sys-
saytowardemergent intelligence, thoughformsof intelligence temsin continualmetabolicturmoiland exchange.Theygrasp
arearoundus everywhere, whichis whywe postulate theconcept materialphenomenathroughtheirqualities(or else theyposit
ofthediagramas a regulatory or generative mechanism). Itmarks statisticalandprobabilistic distributions in orderto numericalize
thetransition wherecommunication, and
control, pattern forma- them), because that is primarily what theyare: organizations of
tion- in a singlephrase,relationships ofinformation - takeover effects,not quantities. The realworldis alwaysa worldof effects
inan organized substrate fromrelationships ofenergy. Historically,(events),not quantities, thoughclearlysome of our narrowest
thismovement - theemergence ofwhatI liketorefer toas a "bio- thinkers haveforgotten thatthisis thecase.Thesedevelopments
logic"- beganwiththe19thcentury's scienceofheat(thermody- maywellbe returning us tosomesortofarchaicoranti-rationalist
namics) as the study of ineluctable transitions (cold to hot,order pointof viewbutI do not believethatthisis necessarily a bad
to disorder, difference to homogeneity) and thetheoryofevolu- development; atworstitpresents a newsetofdangersandpitfalls
tion (the homogenousand simpleto thedifferentiated and the to thought, andatbest,newpossibilities forthought andUfe.
complex). The lifesciences could not fullyemerge on an are
independent Qualities verydense,embedded, andcomplexentities. They
basisuntila theoretical-mathematical basiscouldbe providedfor once so overpowered perceptionand the imagination thatthe
them.Physics itself hadto becomean "information" sciencebefore mindwascontinually beatenbackintosuperstitious postures. The
biology could to it.
emergegradually supplant (Thishistorygoes modern, rationalizing mind thus set out to organize the world so
fromBoltzmannsstatistical of
theory gases to the postwar era's thatit could become apprehensible to,andmanipulable by,ratio-
elaborations byNorbert Weiner, ClaudeShannon, AlanTuring, and naloperations. Todaythoseoperations havebeguntoapproachthe
JohnvonNeumann.)Thisviewofhistory makesitverydifficult to pointof radically diminishing returns. Our livesand our world
accepttoday s common view that sees "informatics" as a new or have been desiccated by numbers and so the mysteries ofthequal-
independent development in the history of ideas and aesthetics, as itativeworld are necessarily beginning torecapture attention. The
a putative"thirdstage"followingand supplanting the physics difference is thattodaywe havea scaffold ofmentaltechnologies
modeland thebiologymodel.WhatI callthebio-logic is theinfor- withwhichto investigate thequalitative worldin a relatively sys-
23.62
mational paradigm par excellence. To speak about "invisible" archi- tematic manner. Though there is little dangeroffallingbackinto
tectures andinformational networks, to invoke"dematerialization" theold typesof religionand superstition, we will undoubtedly
processes in theirsupport is to misunderstand theproblem. Itis to beginto tolerate in seriousdiscoursea greatdealmorein theway
mistake theincorporeal fortheimmaterial andtomistake thevirtual of ideas and modelsand worldviews as we beginto ween our-
forthephantom real. selvesfromthe centuries-long tyrrany of merelyreproducible
CO
> Informational architectures havebeenattheheartofAmerican facts. Thisis no doubtwhythediagram issueis becomingpreemi-
Z aesthetics sincethe 1960s - RobertSmithsonis one important nenttoday:itrepresents
"*t a freshapproachto knowledge, theidea
O
70 example- buttheadventof electronic gadgetry and theemer- thatgeometry has a truththatcannotalwaysbe reducedto alge-
O
* genceof an overdeveloped communications infrastructure have braicexpression. Forcesexist,and can be explained,evenifthey
not changedthe fundamental problem one iota. Our problem cannot be rigorously predicted. The classicalprediction criterion
z todayremainsone offreeing ourselves fromtheimpoverishmentsof truthhid thisfact,and muchof reality, fromour purview.
H - andindeedofthemanyfashionable
rn ofmechanism "neo-mech- Designers werecrippledbythisexclusion, andwerelefteitherto

anisms"- wherever theyemerge,through the actualization or tinkerin the sandbox of "styles" or else in therarified and bodi-
co
> incarnation of "free"or invisibledifference, thatis, ofvirtuality.lessrealmofhyperrationalist abstractions. Bothoftheserepresent
z Wecando thisonlythrough therelentless invention oftechniques sad academicisms, and themovement todaytowardtheworldof
m whosetaskis tomaterialize theincorporeal byembedding every- therealdoes notconstitute an anti-intellectualism. Rather, it is a
< thing iii the flow oftime. revivalof archaic materialist thought.
o
33 In timeeverything is related,and it is to thismultiplicity of Thequestionarisesas to whether thediagramis scientific and
relations and theirshifting andmobilenature, and to theirpecu- explanatory or literaryand illocutionary (provokingacts not
09
> liar,and incompletely theorized,unfoldingwithinthe imper- basedon verifiable truthfunctions) . One wouldhopethatno sin-
CO
rn turbable unity of a medium (time,duration) to which the study gle or definitive answer will ever be furnished. Clearlybothfunc-
0
of complexity - or,as Bergsoncalledit,thescience of intuition - tionsare necessary, foreach is necessary to protectus fromthe
1
f? responds. I believethatarchitecture playsa privileged rolehere- excessesoftheother, andonlythejointactionofbothtogether, in
g
a or atleastthatitcouldandoughttoplaysucha role- in bringing turnandin oscillation, canassureus themobility ofthought and
>T3 theseprocessesof organization, integration, and coordination to actionto sustainourownpoliticalapparatus in thefaceofa very
t>
M theforeground notonlyofpublicandcultural butto fluidandlabileenemy. Thediagram
B- appearance, givesus thepowertoprogram
V3 themoresubtlearenaofexperience itself,to theplacewherethe historical becoming,as wellas to hacktheprograms currendy in
I0 timeof thingsand thetimeof thebodyareone,to thespaceof place.Diagramsmustbe conceivedas songsas wellas hammers.
intuition. Through themater ialization ofactualization, architectureTruthafterall,is a function ofwill,notfacts.
K has thecapacityto freetheimagination fromthree-dimensional
ft
n
v experience, to freeit fromthecontemporary curseof so-called
1 "invisibleprocesses"and hiddendiagramsand to showus that
pj
S processes andevents, theonesthatgiveformtoourworldandour
n
i*
C lives, have shapes of their own.
g. In manymainstream areasofresearch newconceptsand (Thisessayis basedonaninterview conducted forOASE
3 today, magazine,
V) toolsare emerging whosepurposeis specifically to emancipate Holland,1997,byWouter DeanandUdoGarritzmann.)

Kwinter

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