Dialectics of image circulation: media, mood and contemporary architecture

Abstract

This thesis seeks to address the research question: Can visitors enter an authentic experiential mode through bodily-sensory experiences and photo-taking/sharing activities when interacting with Instagrammable architecture? For philosopher Byung-Chul Han, most visitors are easily drawn into the saturated visual stimuli of Instagrammable buildings, which may lead them to lose self-autonomy. He views excessive digital practices in the social network age as forms of violence because they induce emotional burnout, attentional fatigue and neglect of poetic dwelling. However, this thesis contends that Han overlooks the potential for media practices to foster diverse existential possibilities and social transformation. According to the theory of philosopher Martin Heidegger, this thesis proposes an integrative methodology called ‘dialectical phenomenology’ and contends that visitors can reveal emotional authenticity through mood attunement during the process of producing spatial Instagrammability.

This integrative methodology operates on two levels: historical and phenomenological. On the one hand, its historical perspective provides a broad view, showing how both historical and contemporary cases help us acquire a holistic understanding of spatial Instagrammability. On the other hand, the phenomenological perspective offers a detailed view, using phenomenological objective descriptions and subjective interpretations to analyse data and reveal visitors’ authentic experiential modes. Accordingly, this thesis assesses the spatial-visual aspects of two historical buildings (Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye and Aldo Rossi’s San Cataldo Cemetery) and treats them as test cases. These two tests yield key preliminary findings, which can be applied to broader investigations of contemporary cases and contribute to the development of conclusive research outcomes. For Villa Savoye, this thesis collects three phenomenological datasets through space syntax’s visual analysis techniques (visibility graph analysis, convex space analysis and axial line analysis) and identifies three spatial-visual features (visual boundary, visual ritual and visual outflow). For San Cataldo Cemetery, this thesis uses visibility graph analysis, axial line analysis and agent movement analysis to identify visual monotony, visual association and visual cycle. These findings suggest that visitors first interact with Villa Savoye’s transparent spatial image and San Cataldo Cemetery’s historical spatial image through intrinsic bodily/affective intentionality; they engage in spatial wandering activities to cultivate specific attuned moods; then they take photogenic pictures and share them on social media, committing to preserving and politicising their emotional attachments to the locations in which they are situated.

Based on the insights from these two tests, this thesis introduces four phenomenology-related methods (phenomenological observation, questionnaire survey, semi-structured interview and participatory sensory form survey) to explore the existential meanings of visitors’ experiences at four Chinese Instagrammable buildings. Participants’ phenomenological descriptions reveal that some people challenge the inherent violence in Instagrammable architecture; they strive to achieve therapeutic affective intersubjectivities through active practices related to emotional attachment, emotional activism and emotional rights. Ultimately, the thesis concludes that visitors can enter into authentic experiential modes and exert socio-political impacts through therapeutic bodily movements and the creation/circulation of Instagrammable spatial images.