I am feeling unmotivated today. I have been meaning to fill-out that essay/intro that I had a previous post related to, however, other things are occupying my mind.
A list of tasks for myself:
Define Escapism
Forms of Escapism (that i want to deal with)
How it influences children's games etc.
Daydreaming
Revolutions (freedom)
Cold war etc. -culture that influences Escapism
Metal music
How architecture can be Escapism
As well as the Essay/intro previously mentioned
The Dream
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Immersed in darkness, my eyes begin to adjust and the glow of numerous deep and expansive tunnels begins to materialize. The vast field of shafts extends as far as the eye can see, disappearing in the distance. Walking along the paths between the bottomless pits creates a sense of vertigo as I walk deeper and deeper into their expanse. To my right is a looming darkness, a ‘nothing’. It seems to be growing and takes on a weight that begins to grow; it eventually throws me off balance and I fall down into one of the tunnels.
As I fall I realize that not only does the tunnel go on forever, I realize that people inhabit the walls of these tunnels. Soon I am saved and placed in one of the cells. As I try again and again to get back out, I continue to fall and be saved over and over. Eventually, however, I am brought into the area of darkness that had pushed me into the hole. There is a bright light now, and a man standing there.
He then asks me, “Why are you trying to escape?”
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My dream ends. I awaken.
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While attempting to create a physical representation of the imagined, I have discovered that in recreating, comes perfecting. Colours change and new realization of the image of the dream-world come to reality. As if in memory, the mind wanders to create the image. The colours flow and move to create the atmosphere imagined. For example, the bright light out of the darkness happened to be yellow, and so was her dress as I remember it, however I also remembered her dress contrasting the background, and green therefore felt like the right colour. Once I used it, I felt that this was in my dream. This seemed exactly how I had imagined it, but to describe it, is a different experience than to create it physically.
To demonstrate that I was falling, I had to create a sense of emotion, because in the dream I did not see myself falling. I felt it. This is why there is an image of a naked woman falling, this helps demonstrate the emotion.
Within the real world there is a sense of the ‘finite’, and in this dream, the world imagined is infinite. The horizon stretches on forever; I know and accept that it will never end. The tunnels have no ends. My attempts to escape could continue forever. Why then do I continue to try to escape?
“Escapism is the mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an “escape” from the perceived unpleasant aspects of daily stress.” There are both positive, as well as negative strains of thought towards escapism. On the one hand, it is considered healthy and beneficial to one’s health, in order to relieve stress, and allow for, as well as encourage, creativity. However on the other hand, especially when taken to extremes, escapism has negative connotations. It is often looked upon as the inability to cope with the realities of the everyday world.
Escapism is closely tied to nearly every aspect of our culture. Our culture provides the reality and context of our everyday lives, and this is often what many unknowingly seek to escape. We have sought many ways to create alternate worlds in which we live for a time. Escapism has many forms; amongst these are the obvious, such as fiction literature, sports, video games and other similar activities. There are also less straight forward forms, such as revolts and revolutionary movements, religion, numerous art forms, drugs, and music.
Amongst each form seems to be a positive and a negative. For example, in escapism literature it is not uncommon for dystopias to be created as opposed to utopias. Is it easier to imagine the lack of any hope as opposed to imagining having everything? Or is escapism the synthesis of the ‘opposite’ of the world which we are apart?
Another dynamic is whether escapism is to be producing something or being absorbed by what is produced. For example, watching sports as opposed to playing sports; playing an instrument as opposed to listening to music; leading a revolt as opposed to following; and the list continues.
My thesis will investigate how architecture can become a form of Escapism. It will explore the creation of architecture as well as the experience of architecture. It will also test the positive side of the Escapism as well as the negative side. It will reveal new questions dealing with aspects of escapism and the creative world we live in both physically and mentally.
