Lexicons 6.0- Smithson

A Tour of the Monuments of Passaic, New Jersey - Robert Smithson

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[Topic Based]

Territory- (n.)

1. A region of land, bounded by either physical or social elements

2. A designation of space, time, memory, or being.

3. An area (land or water) that is in possession by an entity

Quote:

"'Was I in a new territory?...it could be asked if the country does in fact change - it does not in the sense a traffic light does." - Smithson, 72

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[Descriptive/Active]

anthropomorphic- (n.)

1. Engendering human qualities in order to describe or assimilate an inanimate object

heliotypy- (n.)

1. A term used in photography to describe the transferring of images from photographic negatives to gelatin plates, which are then pressed onto paper.

In Smithson's Terms -

2. The state of the suburban landscape which has been created through the impressions of the images of the romantic 'suburban' ideologies.

Quote:

" a kind of self-destroying postcard world of failed immortality and oppressive grandeur. I had been wandering in a moving picture that I couldn't quite picture..." - Smithson, 72

Lexicons 5.0- Wigley

Recycling Recycling - Mark Wigley

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[Topic Based]

Prosthetic- (n.)

1. An extension of the physical/ metaphysical self which allows one further experience

2. The transitional avenue from single being to complex system. A projection of self.

3. An artificial appendage, integrated into the body; often used to supplement physical shortcomings

4. The phenomenon that contemporary human life requires a multitude of technological devices to exist

Quote(s):

"The prosthetic body grows into a landscape, a terrain that can be occupied. Each successive extension of the body transforms the space it occupies...the human flesh is but a transitional event in the continuous redistribution of energy." - Wigley, 40

"..the accelerated growth of the prosthetically extended body necessarily leads to networks of overlapping technological systems that envelop the planet as a single system." - Wigley, 40

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[Descriptive/Active]

Mobilize- (v.)

1. To activate, disrupt stasis, and gather kinetic flows of energy

2. The assemblage of a troop for war

3. The institutionalization of movement in space

4. The advancements in technology which allow us to be fluid in location

Quote:

"Everything is mobilized. At one moment, the house is described as a "mobile extension of the house." All the accessories of modern life become housing elements. 'Car, boat, plane, motel, vacation cabin, trailer, restaurant, theatre, etc., are extended home roofs." - Wigley, 43

Lexicons 4.0- Sloterdijk

Air / Condition - Peter Sloterdijk

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[Topic Based]

latency- (n.)

1. An inactive state of existence and potential

2. The condition of being repressed or un-manifested

3. Dormant, Hidden, Acquiescent, Suspended

Quote:

" Before long many moderns appeared to have forgotten Hegel's fundamental principle of modern philosophy, whose analogue in aesthetic production would be: that the depth of a thought can be measured only by its power of elaboration - otherwise depth is no more than an empty symbol of unresolved latency." - Sloterdijk, 75

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[Descriptive/Active]

Greenhouse Effect- (n.)

1. The natural phenomenon that the earth allows the sun's radiant heat through its atmosphere, which is then absorbed in the ozone layer to maintain temperatures suitable for life.

2. The effect that radiant heat from the sun will pass through the glass to be absorbed by the surfaces inside and then retained inside by the glass casing.

3. Thermal gases such as water, vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone, which are trapped by the earth's thermal blanket atmosphere

Quote:

"Life as we know it is contingent on the fact that, thanks to its atmospheric filter, the earth's surface lives thirty-degrees beyond its means. If people are...pupils of the air, then the clouds are their tutors." - Sloterdijk, 91

Lexicons 3.0-De Landa

A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History - Manuel De Landa

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[Topic Based]

Meshwork- (n.)

1. The tendency for discrete nodes to combine through their evolution to create a robust, linked system of networks

2. A network that allows each individual member to be its own entity, yet still is able to communicate with the overall infrastructure of the system

Quote:

" The railroad and the telegraph, for example, meshed well not only with one another (amplifying each other's strengths and compensating for certain weaknesses), they meshed well in the larger context of the circuit." - De Landa, 81

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[Descriptive/Active]

Internalize- (v.) economics

1. To independently absorb financial anti-market affairs through a company's own structure

2. To not require a contractor for business. (ie. a company funding their own research laboratory)

3. To develop a simple asset and transform it to become a universal commodity

Quote:

"...a process of internalization by investors was behind harnessing of the gravitational energy of Niagara Falls, and it was the latter that transformed electricity from its limited role as a source of illumination to that of a universal form of energy." - De Landa, 89

Ontario Food Terminal

Recently, I have been trying to understand commercial food operations, and found this excerpt from a book called 'food', a compilation of articles about the global food industry and economy. This specific article, written by Pierre Belanger and Angela Iarocci, focuses primarily on the Ontario Food Terminal and the role it plays as a hub for an expansive global network of food distribution.