Artstops
Posted: February 13, 2010
Description
At the same time that glass reveals, it conceals. If one looks into a glass showcase one can have the illusion that the container is neutral, without apparent interest in the content of what it displays; or, conversely, the appearance of what is contained can be seen as a function of the qualities of the container itself. The use of glass gives another illusion: that what is seen is seen exactly as it is. Through the glass one sees the technical workings of the company and the technical engineering of the surrounding buildings and architectural structure. The glass’s literal transparency not only falsely objectifies reality, but is a paradoxical camouflage for while the actual function of a corporation may be to concentrate its self-contained power and control by secreting information , its architectural facade give the impression of absolute openness. The transparency is visual only; glass separates the visual form the verbal, insulating outsiders from the content of the decision making processes, and from the invisible, but real, interrelationships linking company operations to society. In looking through glass, the interior is lost (one looks through and not at) to the apparent materialness of the outward form, or to Nature (light, sun, sky, or the landscape glimpsed through the building on the other side.)
