The way we perceive and describe this world is through vision…so naturally it is visual factor that dominates the sensory perceptions (except of the idea level sences of taste and sound for which we don’t have image associations….many of us i.e but interestingly if here is a wiring problem in brain some people perceive taste visually i.t a sweet sensation could be felt as round ball….) now in the process of information flow from eye to brain is linear but the processing in brain is diverse and subjective (just like a image of parrot in each of the prince mind and that of an eye in Arjunas)….so what exactly that Image is, is it what our brain chooses to show us? Or is the reality for it? Or in either case what is reality….?
This brings to my mind a puzzling question, and the most important phenomenon…of manifestation….one of the dictionary gives the meaning of manifestation as : The materialized form of a spirit. so spirit is non temporal….but its physical form is what is a manifestation….what we can call as avatar….kurmaavatar is manifestation of Vishnu (in spirit a preserver of world) as a kurma or turtle. So what is the temporal representation of spirit, if that spirit is in itself incomprehensible (anadi - anant)….
Both the above questions are highly relevant towards us as an architect, Architecture is an idea, a spirit and what is constructed and brought into physical world is the manifestation of that spirit…..now we can primarily identify two different ways of perceiving a reality broadly as oriental and western……eastern point of view was predominantly that all the physical world is a manifestation of god….( it also has many current of opposing and varied thought process) and western was more of “scientific” as we may term it today…(western and Indian classical music also shows similar roots where one relies on improvisation other on clear structure and composition) which resulted in to a western idea of categorization of visuals and forms and not always ideas into specific “isems” so a term modernism (e.g villa Savoy) or classical (e.g parthenon) implies a visual end product before mind…but this might obscure the similar thought process sheared by two different buildings in two different isms…the strength of oriental thought is to see the EYE and not the PARROT….where we haven’t yet devised a system of categorization of our buildings based on their visual idioms it suits us fine because traditionally the identification clues given by buildings are based on religion and they are transient and fluid, we can associate our past with them, and also our present….they are like a raga recital…improvisation and transformation is the soul. So the reality in building is the rootedness of it in its present time based on past and ability to transform into future just like an elephant for blind men….a tube when u want it to be, or a wall for someone at the same time…..that means the experience of building is to be left open to observer … just like a text and meaning are two parts of a experience and often one is overshadowed by other….(here it implies the meaning should be left to observer and just so much as a hint is be provided as the text) this will also lead us to answer second question of manifestation…how to materialize an idea and not to make it a visual order to observer (direct representation by clichéd symbols )…..can we provide a frame work for observer to (or reader) to make his own assumptions and guesses….and also to hint the subtleties of idea? Traditional temple architecture is a towering example of this…how to use geometry, sculpture, gestures, emotions and feelings to express the incomprehensible idea of god…even the physical images of god himself are a manifestation (done by human mind for a human mind) of something non temporal….and interestingly it looses all its significance when copied in today’s context. Even a simple rangoli decorating a entry to a house, or its intricate cousin a mandala could be a model to cosmos…yet it never directly hits you saying I AM A MODEL OF COSMOSS…there are western examples also which strengthen this….but mostly they are lost in visual classification of “isms” so what we need is classification on ideas and connections perhaps?
Pune
