Open AccessPlaced Appearances: Narrative, the Space of Appearance, Place
Author(s) -
Ali Reza Shahbazin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
athens journal of architecture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2407-9472
DOI - 10.30958/aja.7-3-4
Subject(s) - narrativity , narrative , objectivity (philosophy) , aesthetics , space (punctuation) , politics , meaning (existential) , identity (music) , public space , german , epistemology , architecture , sociology , philosophy , literature , art , visual arts , political science , linguistics , law , architectural engineering , engineering
The space of appearance is defined by the German political thinker Hannah Arendt as a public space, originating in the Athenian polis, where the “I” and the “Other” meet for the possibility of acting politically. This space, in the subjective formulation of some later scholars, is more about citizens “no matter where they happen to be,” and less about “the city-state in its physical location,” architecture, or urban design. The space of appearance thus conceived is independent of place as the subjective creation of citizens, over against the objectivity of the city. In this study, I argue to the contrary that the space of appearance as a story-telling site achieves place-bound identity through narrativity. My study expands the definition of the space of appearance based on a phenomenological understanding of place as a way that humans feel at home through narrative. I argue that the physical location of the space of appearance is in fact fundamental to its meaning, since place as the setting is part of the narrative.