Rypke Sierksma
Sierksma was born in the northern part of the Netherlands - Friesland, a county with its own language which he does not speak and with an obstinate population to which he both belongs and does not belong.
Now a retired Professor of Social Philosophy and Aesthetics, from 1971/73 as a Harkness fellow he taught at Rutgers and Berkeley Universities in the USA, and at GU Amsterdam and TU Delft in the Netherlands.
In 1991 he defended his PhD at Leyden University on the subject of" Surveillance and Task: Labour Discipline between Utilitarianism and Pragmatism".
His books include Minima Memoria (1993), Tropical North (19950, Lost View (2002, with Jan van Geest), and Litter Scents (2013).
He has published poems and articles in Te Elfder Ure, Nynade, Oasis and the Architectural Annual, and won the ECI Essay Prize 1993, with the essay 'Eternal Sin'.
He writes an English literary blog: sierksma's sequences [worpress.com]
Now a retired Professor of Social Philosophy and Aesthetics, from 1971/73 as a Harkness fellow he taught at Rutgers and Berkeley Universities in the USA, and at GU Amsterdam and TU Delft in the Netherlands.
In 1991 he defended his PhD at Leyden University on the subject of" Surveillance and Task: Labour Discipline between Utilitarianism and Pragmatism".
His books include Minima Memoria (1993), Tropical North (19950, Lost View (2002, with Jan van Geest), and Litter Scents (2013).
He has published poems and articles in Te Elfder Ure, Nynade, Oasis and the Architectural Annual, and won the ECI Essay Prize 1993, with the essay 'Eternal Sin'.
He writes an English literary blog: sierksma's sequences [worpress.com]
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In ekphrastic poetry, a text becomes the extension of an image; the poem does not exist outside the orbit of its picture. In its turn, the text infuses the image with its own special meaning. Once read, if all goes well, the reader will never look at it again as he or she did before the reading. Each poem is always a sentient idea; an ekphrastic poem also makes its point.
1 The Tempo of Shaving
2 Sweat and Tears
3 Walking History
4 Walking In Difference
5 The Metre of Pacing
6 Godspeed
7 Garden Melancholy
8 An Invalid’s Pace
9 Devilspeed
Comparing Rembrandt's portraiture, Lorrain's landscapes, Constable's cloudscapes and James Teschner's sunscapes.
II. Advertisement Against Myself
I
Synopsis
Method of the Essayist
Consciously Unconscious
Conscious Centrism
The End of Freedom
Zen and Chess
The Need for Punishment
II
Against Anarchism
Gotta Serve...
I
. Confessions, Diary, Autobiography
. Pseudologia
II
. Intimacy and Solitude
. Word-Image
. Trivialities and Sketches
III
. Acte de Présence
. Second-Hand Pleasure
. Fragmentary
2 Critique of Art
3 The Practice of Criticism - The Issue of Taste
4 Judgement and Experience
5 Abstract Art and Architecture
The claim defended here, is that aesthetic criticism has no method; yet, it is a systematic endeavor. At stake is aesthetic evaluation of works of art, not their scientific research. ‘Performing’ an aesthetic critique is like making love, it is a creative act - a proposition to be fulfilled in this essay. We practice criticism by contemplating the contours of our gaze on beautiful, gracious, intimidating, oppressive or even outright ugly objects - works of art or otherwise - at the same time tracing the illusions that accompany those deliberations. Aesthetic criticism touches upon the complex order of our desires and our distastes.
The reader is also referred to my other texts on aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- On the Aestethetic of Class and Ideology: Brideshead Rivisited
- On Haiku
- Mirrors of Madness
- Freudian Cadavers
- Eyes, Tears and Death
-The Critique of Art and the Art if Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
The reader is also referred to my other texts on Aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- On Haiku
- Freudian Cadavers
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On the Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- Mimesis Meditations
The Reader is also referred to my other texts on architecture, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architure: Walpole
- Flexible Workspace
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Public Spaces
- Poimt of Few
The reader os also referred to my other texts on architecture, on Academia.edu:
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Flexible Workspace
- Public Space
- Genius Loci
- Point of Few
The reader is referred to my following texts on architeture, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Genius Loci
- Public Spaces
- Point of Few
- Transparent Authority
The reader is fererred to my other texts in Aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- The Gaze Gasping
- Mimesis Meditations
- Mirrors of Madness
- Rembrandts Hands
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On the Aestetics od Class and Ideology: Brideshead Revisited
1 Fear of Freedom: biography, two buildings, a new architectonic ideal, architecture uphill, metropolis angst, fate, expressionism's mood, rejuvenation, the argument’s trajectory
Part I - Architecture of the Myth
2 Madness in his Method: the onus of argument, fanatics of factuality, enlightenment, clairvoyance
3 Order of Discourse: bricolage, discipline, apartheid, sectarianism
Part II - The Myth of Architecture
4 Metamorphosis: impediment, multiple self, fateful freedom
5 Being Arty: true art, arts apart, arts fused, universal semiosis, pictorial hermeneutics
6 Architecture’s Soul: history, circles and spheres, asymmetry, transparency, columns dynamized, colourism, sublime, a whole new ball game, beton brut
Part III - Authoritarian Architecture
7 Expression of Order: an inner geometer, the question of meaning, projection, expressive architecture, theatre and grotto
8 Authority and Style: uniformed judgement, Ronchamp, a new style, principle and prejudice
Mausoleum
Appendices
I - Psychological Remarks
II - Communicative Illusion
III - For Argument's Sake
IV - Pictorial Hermeneutics
Bibliography: corpus delicti and scalpels
To study the complex relationship between architecture, authority and expressionism, I have concentrated on the analysis of an obscure and curious case: Ruolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy. Why spend so much time and energy on what might be considered a doubtful myth? For two good reasons.
In this age of postmodernity, in which various kinds of sectarianism are flourishing, anthroposophy is an exemplary creed. It combines authoritarianism, obscurantism and diaspora - three typical features of our epoch. [One may also read Transparent Authority, published on Academia.edu] An overdose of abstruse notions and quotations, seemingly ill at ease in a work of scientific analysis, will be shown to be part and parcel of that authoritarianism. To shed some light on the sectarian aspect of postmodernity is one of my aims.
The second reason: combining a sociological, an epistemological and an esthetical perspective seems to be of intellectual interest.
The book argues the intrinsic connection between the anthroposophical myth, its sectarian organisation and the structure as well as shape of its buildings; it traces the architecture of a myth, an edifice made from bricks of metamorphosis, cemented with obscure non-sequiturs and closed off with the authoritarian keystone of clairvoyance. Thanks to anthroposophy’s prototypical quality, long-standing problems in architectural theory such as the unclear relationship between expressionism and architecture and the problematic link between authority and architecture come into sharper focus.
Apart from developing the psychological theory of projection, the concept of authoritarian architecture is introduced.
A critical study of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner may give us insight in the ways in which the Romantic Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century crept into the 20th, shaping its artistic attitudes and perspectives. The ideologies of Romanticism and Modernism are not all that different; their relationship with the vulgarities of power and politics are intriguing. They represent two forces, so conflictingly intertwining in our ‘new age’. Steiner's attitude towards the ambivalent classicism of Goethe is remarkable, both identifying and distancing himself, quite often giving it his own occultist twist. For this reason, I delved into Goethe's work as well.
The reader is also referred to my other texts on architecure, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Flexible Workspace
- Genius Loci
- Point of Few
- La Terra Trauma
Contents
1. Roped by Hitchcock
2. Loeb and Leopold: The 1924 Case
3. The Nietzsche-Problem
4. Killing an Untermensch
5. The Vicissitudes of Violence
6. Senseless Violence and Panzer Ego
7. Summa
8. Postscript on Ripley
In ekphrastic poetry, a text becomes the extension of an image; the poem does not exist outside the orbit of its picture. In its turn, the text infuses the image with its own special meaning. Once read, if all goes well, the reader will never look at it again as he or she did before the reading. Each poem is always a sentient idea; an ekphrastic poem also makes its point.
1 The Tempo of Shaving
2 Sweat and Tears
3 Walking History
4 Walking In Difference
5 The Metre of Pacing
6 Godspeed
7 Garden Melancholy
8 An Invalid’s Pace
9 Devilspeed
Comparing Rembrandt's portraiture, Lorrain's landscapes, Constable's cloudscapes and James Teschner's sunscapes.
II. Advertisement Against Myself
I
Synopsis
Method of the Essayist
Consciously Unconscious
Conscious Centrism
The End of Freedom
Zen and Chess
The Need for Punishment
II
Against Anarchism
Gotta Serve...
I
. Confessions, Diary, Autobiography
. Pseudologia
II
. Intimacy and Solitude
. Word-Image
. Trivialities and Sketches
III
. Acte de Présence
. Second-Hand Pleasure
. Fragmentary
2 Critique of Art
3 The Practice of Criticism - The Issue of Taste
4 Judgement and Experience
5 Abstract Art and Architecture
The claim defended here, is that aesthetic criticism has no method; yet, it is a systematic endeavor. At stake is aesthetic evaluation of works of art, not their scientific research. ‘Performing’ an aesthetic critique is like making love, it is a creative act - a proposition to be fulfilled in this essay. We practice criticism by contemplating the contours of our gaze on beautiful, gracious, intimidating, oppressive or even outright ugly objects - works of art or otherwise - at the same time tracing the illusions that accompany those deliberations. Aesthetic criticism touches upon the complex order of our desires and our distastes.
The reader is also referred to my other texts on aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- On the Aestethetic of Class and Ideology: Brideshead Rivisited
- On Haiku
- Mirrors of Madness
- Freudian Cadavers
- Eyes, Tears and Death
-The Critique of Art and the Art if Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
The reader is also referred to my other texts on Aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- On Haiku
- Freudian Cadavers
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On the Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- Mimesis Meditations
The Reader is also referred to my other texts on architecture, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architure: Walpole
- Flexible Workspace
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Public Spaces
- Poimt of Few
The reader os also referred to my other texts on architecture, on Academia.edu:
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Flexible Workspace
- Public Space
- Genius Loci
- Point of Few
The reader is referred to my following texts on architeture, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Genius Loci
- Public Spaces
- Point of Few
- Transparent Authority
The reader is fererred to my other texts in Aesthetics, on Academia.edu:
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- The Gaze Gasping
- Mimesis Meditations
- Mirrors of Madness
- Rembrandts Hands
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On the Aestetics od Class and Ideology: Brideshead Revisited
1 Fear of Freedom: biography, two buildings, a new architectonic ideal, architecture uphill, metropolis angst, fate, expressionism's mood, rejuvenation, the argument’s trajectory
Part I - Architecture of the Myth
2 Madness in his Method: the onus of argument, fanatics of factuality, enlightenment, clairvoyance
3 Order of Discourse: bricolage, discipline, apartheid, sectarianism
Part II - The Myth of Architecture
4 Metamorphosis: impediment, multiple self, fateful freedom
5 Being Arty: true art, arts apart, arts fused, universal semiosis, pictorial hermeneutics
6 Architecture’s Soul: history, circles and spheres, asymmetry, transparency, columns dynamized, colourism, sublime, a whole new ball game, beton brut
Part III - Authoritarian Architecture
7 Expression of Order: an inner geometer, the question of meaning, projection, expressive architecture, theatre and grotto
8 Authority and Style: uniformed judgement, Ronchamp, a new style, principle and prejudice
Mausoleum
Appendices
I - Psychological Remarks
II - Communicative Illusion
III - For Argument's Sake
IV - Pictorial Hermeneutics
Bibliography: corpus delicti and scalpels
To study the complex relationship between architecture, authority and expressionism, I have concentrated on the analysis of an obscure and curious case: Ruolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy. Why spend so much time and energy on what might be considered a doubtful myth? For two good reasons.
In this age of postmodernity, in which various kinds of sectarianism are flourishing, anthroposophy is an exemplary creed. It combines authoritarianism, obscurantism and diaspora - three typical features of our epoch. [One may also read Transparent Authority, published on Academia.edu] An overdose of abstruse notions and quotations, seemingly ill at ease in a work of scientific analysis, will be shown to be part and parcel of that authoritarianism. To shed some light on the sectarian aspect of postmodernity is one of my aims.
The second reason: combining a sociological, an epistemological and an esthetical perspective seems to be of intellectual interest.
The book argues the intrinsic connection between the anthroposophical myth, its sectarian organisation and the structure as well as shape of its buildings; it traces the architecture of a myth, an edifice made from bricks of metamorphosis, cemented with obscure non-sequiturs and closed off with the authoritarian keystone of clairvoyance. Thanks to anthroposophy’s prototypical quality, long-standing problems in architectural theory such as the unclear relationship between expressionism and architecture and the problematic link between authority and architecture come into sharper focus.
Apart from developing the psychological theory of projection, the concept of authoritarian architecture is introduced.
A critical study of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner may give us insight in the ways in which the Romantic Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century crept into the 20th, shaping its artistic attitudes and perspectives. The ideologies of Romanticism and Modernism are not all that different; their relationship with the vulgarities of power and politics are intriguing. They represent two forces, so conflictingly intertwining in our ‘new age’. Steiner's attitude towards the ambivalent classicism of Goethe is remarkable, both identifying and distancing himself, quite often giving it his own occultist twist. For this reason, I delved into Goethe's work as well.
The reader is also referred to my other texts on architecure, on Academia.edu:
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Flexible Workspace
- Genius Loci
- Point of Few
- La Terra Trauma
Contents
1. Roped by Hitchcock
2. Loeb and Leopold: The 1924 Case
3. The Nietzsche-Problem
4. Killing an Untermensch
5. The Vicissitudes of Violence
6. Senseless Violence and Panzer Ego
7. Summa
8. Postscript on Ripley
The reader is also referred to my other tets on aesthetics, Academia.edu:
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- The Gaze Gasping
- Rembrandts Hands
- On Haiku
- Mirros of Madness
- Freudian Cadavers
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- Mimesis Meditations
The reader is also referred to my other texts on Aestetics, Academia.edu:
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
- Mimesis Meditations
- The Portrayal of Hands
- Mirrors of Madness
- Freudian Cadavers
- On Haiku
- An Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
The reader is ererred to my other texts on architecture and landscape, Academia.edu:
- Authoritarian Architectre
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Gardens, Parks, Landscape, Environment
- Public Spaces
- The Folly of Follies
The reader is also referred to my other texts on aesthetics, Academia.edu:
- The Portrayal of Hands
- Freudian Cadavers
- Mirros of Madness
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On Haiku
- An Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
- The Critique of Art and the Art if Criticism
- Mimesis Meditations
- Aesthetics, Evolution and Biology
The reader is also referred to my other texts on space, architecture and landscape, Academia.edu:
- Gardens, Parks, Landscape, Environment
- The Folly of Follies
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Flexible Workspace
- Anecdotal Architecture
- Genius Loci
- Panzer Paranoia and Postmodernity
- La Terra Trauma
I shall criticise Auster’s introduction on surrealism, as well his choice of translators and their versions of the poetry, Raymond Federman and Ezra Pound. Is also give my own translation of Francis Ponge’s Les plaisirs de a porte and La bougie, and O.V. de Milosz’ Symphonie de novembre.
I Ponge’s Pleasures
II The 1066 Delusion
III Pounding Ezra Pound
See also ON HAIKU on this site
Introduction: Feuerbach and Freud
Pressure Cooker and Upbringing
Panzer Ego and Vacuous Ego
Modern Guilt - Postmodern Shame
A Methodological Caveat
Cocooning
Postmodern Religiosity
Post script: Tattoo Violence
Once, in the last decade of the 20th century, there was a plan for a book called "The Porous Self – On the Superficial Aesthetics of Everyday Life". Health reasons prevented it from being born; health reasons still do, as does age.
As the subject of that book, a Theory of Postmodern Narcissism, has informed part of my writings, it seemed sensible to gather the various elements which are to be found in these writings, grouping them together in what can be considered a hypo-thesis.
Perhaps, people at work in cultural philosophy and sociology may get some inspiration from it for their own work in the field. This essay in socio-psygology is crucial to an understanding of Alt Right, Identarians and Identity Politics, which are typical for postmodern society.
The reader is also referred to texts published on Academia.Edu: La TerraTrauma; Transparent Authority - Reflections on Post-Modernism and Architecture; and Emotional Driving - Cocooning in the Public Realm (the last piece written together with Dion Kooijman).
Adorno has developed a puritanical aesthetics, posing some questions as to its viability.
The reader is also referred to my other texts on aesthetics, Academia.edu:
- Aesthetics, Evolution and biology
- Mimesis Meditations
- An Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
- Mirrors of Madness
- The Portrayal of Hands
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- Freudian Cadavers
- The Gaze Gasping
- On Haiku
Het betreft de probleemstelling voor een Engelstalige studie Rome and Romanticism. Kernprobleem is het onderscheid tussen de eind-18e-eeuwse benadering en de Romantische behandeling van het fragment, begin 19e eeuw. Speciale aandacht is er voor Winckelmann en Piranesi en voor tuingeschiedenis.
Het boek zou er nooit komen; vlak voor mijn vertrek van de vlieghaven Fiumicino werd mijn laptop bag gestolen, met daarin een reeks enveloppen met daarin zo'n duizend handgeschreven fiches van tien jaar studie. Dit is ook de reden waarom er geen noten zijn opgenomen.
For this a reformulation of the psychological theory of projection is needed, arriving at a comprehensive theory including both the cognitive as well as emotional aspects of projection. I analyse the precise meaning of the notion of ‘expression’, and developing two different aspects of projection: projective perception which is subtractive, versus projective emotion which is additive. The last kind of projection is called atmospheric projection.
In a case study, these concepts are used to analyse the contrasts between Corbusier and R. Steier, both their writings as well as the chapel Ronchamp and the Goetheanum No. 1 in Dornach.
The rearder is referred to other text on Academia.edu:
- Authoritarian Architeture
- La Terra Trauma
- Panzer Paranoia
- Transparent Authority
See also On Translating Poetry on this site
See also my texts on Academia.edu:
- Authoritarian Architecture
- Theory of Projection
- Panzer Paranioa - on Postmoderniity
- Transparant Authority
II Pragmatism on Aesthetic Experience
III Aesthetic Perception and Language
IV Moral, Culinary and Aesthetic Taste
V Stephan's 'Schema 9'
VI Abstract Painting
VII A Perceptual Argument: The Blues of Yves Klein
Michael Stephan's ‘transformational theory of aesthetics’ is confronted with an aesthetics based on philosophical pragmatism (Dewey and Gehlen). According to Stephan an aesthetic 'high' results whenever we feel obliged to act with respect to 'phenomenal objects' too far away or not allowed to be touched. This would make 'aesthetic experience' an all-round phenomenon; it produces an all too de-differentiated idea of aesthetic experience. Dewey's delicate difference between the 'aesthetic aspect' of each experience on the one hand, and a specific 'aesthetic experience' on the other is more promising. This essay claims different kinds of 'aesthetic' experiences. A good theory makes us differentiate adequately between aspects of reality and experience, and it must explain these differences. Finally, my argument, using an adapted version of Stephan’s thesis, is tested on three works by Yves Klein.
The problem of all philosophical discourse is that touching one issue is touching them all. However, each issue still needs its own argument. One must avoid the worst man’s misunderstanding of women: “If you've seen one, you've seen them all.” Touching one specimen is merely a convincing invitation to investigate the particularity of them all – women and arguments. Impossible in either case.
Arguing my criticism of Michael Stephan's ‘transformational theory’, I undermine his Schema 9 and thus his whole hypothesis - paradoxically proving his book to be an argumentative whole. First the groundwork for my argument is outlined - an exposition of what it is 'to have an aesthetic experience'.
The reader is also refered to my other tets on aesthetics, Academia.edu:
- The Critique of Art and the Art of Criticism
- An Aesthetics of Class and Ideology
- The Gaze Gasping
- Freudian Cadavers
- Mirros of Madness
- The Portrayal of Hands
- Eyes, Tears and Death
- On Haiku
- Mimesis Meditations