Zones of Intensity Invested with Desire

Abstract

This paper explores the meaning-making potential of cultural sites of historical importance within the current framework of human communication that now seamlessly intertwines digital, electronic and organic forms of contact. The paper argues that the computer-guided communication prevalent now favours the systematic and programmed and that has repercussions in terms of our sense of identity as organic beings living in a physical world. A response is to reinforce a sense of place via direct experience in cultural sites that are invested with a strong sense of place, referred to as “zones of intensity invested with desire” (this term was coined by Russell West-Pavlov and referenced by Darko Radovic to address the visual bias of urban planning). The argument follows that there needs to be a conscious reconnection with all the senses, overcoming the current visual bias encouraged by communication via the printed word. Art as alternative modality of relations has a strong role to play to reconnect us to the meaning-making elements in physical sites and reinforce the sense of place so crucial in our existence as organic beings.

Keywords

• cultural heritage, sense of place, non-power fragmentation, sense of identity, visual bias, presence, displacement, self-hypnosis