the sniper’s log_

Posted by Asile Wong

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things are amazingly quiet today, not what i was expecting for a public holiday in Copenhagen. i like the mood today, i got my nose in a book for the entire day thankfully.

this is a log; a recording of events, experiences, observations, thought around me. initially unsure if i should do with this idea, but decided it might be an interesting collective reflection in the long run. if i may put it this way, this is the post where anything goes.

Pier Luigi Nervi; such beauty in construction

the architectural flair inside of me has kept me rather occupied these days. i found myself reading books from start to end. i do think there is an absolute beauty about picking up a book and reading it from start to end, especially so in the age where technology plays a commanding role over our most things. well anyways i should digress. this (reading), over idling away the days doing the mundane and tedious, i find it really liberating.

time has been on my mind. the linear concept to be specific. it started with this simple photography above. i was just wondering, i do grasp the western idea of progress and it’s attributes. the enlightenment also brought about the idea of modernity, which we are very much bound to. would that mean we are reliant on a condition that cannot be pinned down to a fixed sets of attributes? modernity opens the way for the notion of critical reasoning; (whose feature fails to rely on any foundation that is unquestionable, or any revelations) we then are not ruled by identity or tautologies, but by the concept of ‘otherness’ and contradiction. do we then go back to a cyclical concept of time or have modernity paved an archetype of time.

the goal of criticism in the past was truth, but in the modern times, truth is criticism. not eternal, but truth of change. this constant conflict with tradition and elevating struggle is really interesting, especially so in an architectural context. i found myself in a labyrinth of closed doors. i hope it will not eventually become another paradox of our time. i stand by the architectural canon of course, but the same rule applies; stay curious.

if the idea of progress advances improvement in the human condition, then why are we at the point of old modernism?

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Posted by Asile Wong

louvre pyramid; Ieoh Ming Pei @ 21/03/12

‘ the plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network. the architectonic framework evokes, at gigantic scale, an ancient atrium of a Pompeiian villa. the treatment of the opening above, with its tracery of engineered castings and cables, evokes the atria of corporate office buildings; the busy movement of people from all directions suggests the concourses of rail termini or international airports. ‘ - mark pimlott

i personally am a huge fan of triangles. this particular photograph documents I. M. Pei’s extraordinary legacy to modernism. his concept puts forward the intervention into the Cour Napoleon at the Louvre Museum. a dramatic nature of the intervention is clear with the juxtaposition between the old and the new. the strangely familiar symbol becomes displaced, truth was realized as the perfect complement and counterpoint. its notion becomes the organizing factor of space. amidst the warm lighting, the ingeniously conceived triangular web of supports reveals it’s modesty. the path towards modernity.

invisible_

Posted by Asile Wong

dear readers,

happy easter holidays. days in summer are apt to linger. this is not too random i promise, it more or less summarizes the recent muse i had, whilst consumed by wanderlust in sweden. i waited for a while, then begun to laugh as i opened up a vein.

the journey:

stockholm

örebro

lindesberg

storå

tiveden

laxå

göteborg

malmö

‘ i imagine myself in a paper forest, i looked up to the tree and felt dizzy from where i stood. bare feet in the wet grass, while thinking about the water. i want to say it but i am unsure how i should begin. with my eyes closed, it seemed that all of life’s experiences had been witness through rose-colored glasses . i struggled with words, clearly there are not 100,000 beautiful words in the english language to explain what i had witnessed further. i shall not approve or disapprove of anything now, only to stay curious, for we are not sent into the world to air our moral prejudices. ‘

‘ from here on in, i can eat whomever i please. ‘ – thought the dandy as he slipped away and tried on the bear suit.

wander; the more i travel, the more keenly i consider that whatever at that time seemed certainly ‘good enough’ for our fathers is not ‘good enough’ for us anymore. the sorrowful reality of what modernity has led us to become. ( ‘your devices are good for almost nothing’, theo told the inventor, standing beside him on a mechanical cloud at the gates of the sky-city. )

price; we are overcharged for everything nowadays. i can afford nothing but self-denial, what tragedy. ( how many wolves will i need for the wolf-pit? she thought, sitting by the window alone. )

lost; the scene carries with it the tremulous ecstasy one hears, just before the dawn when nightingales are singing. nothing quite summarize this like wilde’s witty play of words. ( with each year your burden grows heavier. oh, when will you set it down, taking up again the fresh green clothes of childhood, of rescuing grasses & fluttering fields? )

poverty; recalled a conversation with a native greek student (with a smirk on his face) telling me that all of asia very much begun/remained a poor continent, besides being plagued by poverty, asia grew accustomed to famine as well. it struck me hard, maybe there is something infinitely mean about the tragedies of others. but clearly no one reads the papers anymore. oh tabloids! what gossip will you bring today?

influence; to influence a person is to give him/her one’s own soul. to remove them of the natural thoughts & passions. they then becomes an echo of someone else’s music. people are afraid of themselves today, the aim of life is self-development. ( i want to fall asleep in the woods with moss under my head & surrounded by animals, in that way to gain both winds & new friends. )

interest; there are only two types of people i find fascinating. people who know absolutely everything, & people who know absolutely nothing. ( here it is said, touching your hair with your fingertips will result in almost instant death from poisoning. )

benevolence; people are very much fond of supplying/furnishing others with what they themselves need most. the depth of generosity, i find it rather intriguing. ( the man with the bird head was often sad for he knew that the others in the town spoke ill of him. )

time; because time is of valor important, it is the only currency we are genuinely left with. just counting it can have great significance. don’t squander the gold of your days trying to improve the hopeless failure or listening to the tedious. let nothing be lost upon you.

strange; please remember, things are not what they seem. do not let appearances fool you, there can only be one reality. (‘can’t you explain it to him?’ asked emily, who had spent the last hour trying to glue the wings back on to her dying bird. ) free will may be an illusion as murakami suggests.

a wonderful journey indeed. left me with the passion for sensations, as nothing quite cures the soul but senses, just as nothing cures the senses but soul. i will be leaving for barcelona on friday. till then, i hope you’ve enjoyed the bits of rain after the drought, of which i must apologize. have a great week ahead.