The Eyes of the Skin

can even identify a certain panicked hysteria of representationof our time.in the artsIThe Narcissistic and Nihilistic EyeThe hegemony of sight first brought forth glorious VlSlOns, mHeidegger's view, but it has turned increasingly nihilistic in moderntimes. Heidegger's observation of a nihilistic eye is particularly thoughtprovokingtoday; many of the architectural projects of the past 20 years,celebrated by the international architectural press, express both narcissismand nihilism.The hegemonic eye seeks domination over all fields of cultural production,and it seems to weaken our capacity for empathy, compassionand participationwith the world. The narcissistic eye views architecturesolely as a means of self-expression, and as an intellectual-artistic gamedetached from essential mental and societal connections, whereas thenihilistic eye deliberately advances sensory and mental detachment andalienation. Instead of reinforcing one's body-centred and integratedexperience of the world, nihilistic architecture disengages and isolates thebody, and instead of attempting to reconstruct cultural order, it makes areading of collective signification impossible. The world becomes a hedonisticbut meaningless visual journey. It is clear that only the distancing·and detaching sense of vision is capable of a nihilistic attitude; it isimpossible to think of a nihilistic sense of touch, for instance, because ofthe unavoidable nearness, intimacy, veracity and identification that thesense of touch carries. A sadistic as well as a masochistic eye also exists,and their instruments in the fields of contemporary arts and architecturecan also be identified.The current industrial mass production of visual imagery tends toalienate vision from emotional involvement and identification, and to turnimagery into a mesmerising flow without focus or participation.CerteauMichel deperceives the expansion of the ocular realm negatively indeed:3THE POWER AND THE WEAKNESS OF THE EYEParticularly in modern times, vision hasbeen strengthened by numerous technologicalinventions. We are now able to seeboth deep into the secrets of matter andimmensities of outer space.The eye of the camera, from the film TheMan with a Movie Camera by Dziga Vertov,1929. Detail. © 2005 The Museum ofModern Art, NY/Scala, Florence.4Regardless of our prioritisation of the eye,visual observation is often confirmed byour touch.Caravaggio, The Incredulity of SaintThomas, 1601-2. Detail. Neues Palais,Potsdam.© Stiftung Preussische Schlosserund undGarten, Berlin-Brandenburg.22THE EYES OFTHE SKINPART I 23