Re-Imagining Place: The Eidetic Image and Vancouver's Urban-Landscape

In this paper I explore the eidetic image as it relates to the rethinking and imaging of architectural and urban planning concerns. An eidetic image is produced through drawing, painting, modeling, mapping, and/or computer animation from which artists, designers and architects may conduct research into complex spatiality that challenges the passive Cartesian mode of picturing prevalent in both architecture and painting conventions. The term eidetic generally refers to mental imagery, “which are revived versions of [ . . . ] impressions called up by the imagination in the absence of the objects that originally stimulated them...” (Mitchell, Iconology 10). Which is not to say that all eidetic imagery must be recalled from memory. Within the context of this paper, an eidetic image is a visual model constructed by an artist, or designer. In his essay, “Eidetic Operations and New Landscapes” landscape architect James Corner calls on researchers to use this imaging methodology as a means of stimulating discourse, creative invention, and actualizing emergent realities. In his seminal work, “The Image of the City” Kevin Lynch categorizes the contents of the imageable city into five types of architectural components: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks (46). A summary of what those components are and how they function within the urban-landscape will be provided. In addition to Lynch’s five categories, I address the phenomena of pictorial architecture. Pictorial architecture refers to the ubiquitous application of two-dimensional graphic imagery onto three-dimensional architectural structures in the form of retail signage, large-format television screens, and billboards. The thesis of my proposal is that, an artist, designer or architect may use the operational language of Lynch’s five architectural components, and pictorial architecture, within eidetic imagery, as a means of describing the contemporary urban-landscape. To elaborate how architectural components may be deployed in eidetic imagery I will review the works of contemporary artists such as Zaha Hadid, Benjamin Edwards, and Julie Mehretu who specifically deal with the urban-landscape. In addition, I have constructed my own eidetic image, Dream City: Vancouver (2008) and will describe my methodological approach towards urban exploration and image building. In relation to the exploration of cities, the works of The Situationist International and Franz Ackermann will also be discussed.