LOOKING GLASS CITY

the construction of an observer.

Spectacle, Attention, Counter-Memory. Jonathan Crary.

The first world expo was held in London in 1851. The Crystal Palace became the glittering venue where entire trees were encapsulated under its soaring glass roof. ‘News of the crystal palace reached far and wide, pictures of it were hung on the walls of bourgeois rooms…’ 1.These expositions were designed to dazzle, the home of business and pleasure. The crowds were conditioned ‘to look, but don’t touch’ and taught to derive pleasure from the spectacle alone.

The origins of modernism and spectacle are believed to coincide, with there relationship inextricably intertwined. The spectacle arises with the emergence of commercialised aspects of life and leisure as commodities. Debord believes the spectacle to be ’at the very heart of this real societies unreality, it is the bad dream of modern society. Benjamin describes the spectacle of Nineteenth century Paris as a ‘Phantasmagoria’ a moment when reality accelerated into the technological spectacle of our times. For Benjamin the key to the new urban phantasmagoria was the commodity on display. Where exchange value no less than use value lost practical meaning. Benjamin also points to a crisis that is the result of a sweeping remaking of the observer. With capital cities transformed into glittering showcases, displaying utopian promises of the new industry and technology they kept crowds enthralled. These showcases are deceptive, while dazzling the admiring crowd they simultaneously turn the onlooker into the spectacle.