The Environment is an Agent
william_kent
Well-known member
higher rates of cancer / leukaemia by electric power lines
I knew some New Age travellers who parked up by some pylons, they didn't last a week due to headaches, etc.,
other_life
bioconfused
the environment is an agon
william_kent
Well-known member
of course it goes without saying, never fly your kite near a pylon
play safe
play safe
version
Well-known member
There's something debilitating about the kind of environmental decay seen in Britain at the moment. I think it's to do with the pace of decline. If something's destroyed overnight then there's a galvanising factor that promotes rebuilding and collective action. People club together in a crisis. The environment demands it. But when it unfolds over the course of decades, there's a weary resignation.
It's the difference between your house being damp and your house being flooded. One requires immediate and drastic action, the other tends to be ignored or managed.
Britain is a damp house.
It's the difference between your house being damp and your house being flooded. One requires immediate and drastic action, the other tends to be ignored or managed.
Britain is a damp house.
william_kent
Well-known member
I went for a day out in Blackpool recently
this is just by central pier
this is just by central pier
version
Well-known member
I went for a day out in Blackpool recently
this is just by central pier
Yeah, that sort of thing. Just existing around these places, day to day, must do a number on you. You're living in slow ruins. All the life seeping out of the world. It doesn't even have the benefit of rewilding by default. Nothing but brick, glass and chipboard.
It's not the kind of thing that's going to get people out of their homes and trying to do the place up either, if they even have the means to. It's the kind of thing that makes you turn inward.
version
Well-known member
The environment is a mirror.
other_life
bioconfused
^ looks like east st paul
the environment is a minor! the environment is a motor! the environment is a matter. the environment is aghast
version
Well-known member
What I'm getting at seems to be a combination of the environment being an agent, a mirror, and a feedback loop. You can argue all three, but they're different things. The agency argument takes it in a more creative, literary direction as you're pulled toward it being a mysterious force consciously acting upon or against us. The mirror sets it in a passive role where it's simply a reflection of the things acting upon it. And the feedback loop's a more grounded approach offering a synthesis of the two.
High-Rise is interesting because the building seems to dictate the behaviour of its inhabitants, but through some sort of logic within the architecture itself rather than the kind of animism you'd see in something like a haunted house story. The high-rise has no agenda, but nevertheless exerts a force on the people living there.
other_life
bioconfused
the environment is the agenda. the environment is a-gender. the environment is a gendarme
other_life
bioconfused
thinking about haussman's renovation of paris, retrofitting the city to kettle riots
william_kent
Well-known member
I'll watch an episode of
Charliebo313 - Kensington, Phillie
and then then 'walk on the wild side"
Blackpool - backstreets & red light area
and damned if I can tell the difference except Kensington is more "lit', "popping"
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
There have always been places like this in the poorer towns and cities, but with maybe a very few exceptions - I dunno, Winchester, probably, somewhere like that - there are now scenes like this in every town and city.
The rate of decline in not much more than a decade has been startling.
william_kent
Well-known member
william_kent
Well-known member
of course
I think the four members of this forum may be well versed in Baudlerlaire, Guy Debord, dérive, Iain Sinclair, "DEEP TOPOGRAPHY"
etc
edit: fuck Will self, he is just a wanker
I think the four members of this forum may be well versed in Baudlerlaire, Guy Debord, dérive, Iain Sinclair, "DEEP TOPOGRAPHY"
etc
edit: fuck Will self, he is just a wanker
william_kent
Well-known member
althouhgh Jarett Kobek is the ultimate psychogeographic author
'reasons'
read ATTA and you will understand
9/11 Psycogeography
'reasons'
read ATTA and you will understand
9/11 Psycogeography
other_life
bioconfused
every thread converges on "britain is grim"