Jack Freedman
I SEE THE SUBLIME IN YOU
Geoengineering, Ecology, Aesthetics
The aesthetic-cultural concept of the sublime is a phenomenon predicated on the time and place in which it is being invoked. 18th century idealism, 19th century romanticism, and 20th century deconstructivism each made use of the sublime to ponder a higher power, the limits of reality, the borders of consciousness, and the relationship humans and non-humans have to each other and the worlds around them. These are invaluable thought processes, and yet we are living in a time of exponential change, one of urbanization, reconciliation, and devastation. The sublime in the 21st century and beyond doesn’t look like that of previous generations, and it can be brought into focus at the site and scale of geoengineering. Here, ecologies of climate remediation and the sublime are reciprocal: just as metropolitan albedo modification points to a novel architectural sublime, this sublime can allow us to rethink geoengineering and ecological justice.
This novel architectural sublime interrogates the 18th century idea of scale, working within transfinite set theory - a mathematical way to describe the fact that there are infinite ways to describe a grain of sand just as there are infinite ways to describe our galaxy - to redefine the value of the infinite, the limitless, and the uncountable. Instead, this thesis highlights the sublimity of the countable, the microscopic, and the human.
This novel architectural sublime begs the question, ‘what does it mean to construct the sublime?’ The 19th century transcendentalist anthology speaks to the essence of the sublime object and the sublime moment, but comes up short of implicating the built environment in this experience. This thesis posits that the collection of sublime objects and moments includes those in the built environment, and while not common, certainly manifest in the act of geoengineering.
This novel architectural sublime is an expression of time, collapsing the entire 20th century of exponential and malignant industrialization into the act of erasing it. The sublime ritual of geoengineering, then, is clear: one person, two people, four people, intervening, adding, and manipulating an architectural moment as a reflection of all the moments before it, in an effort to change the fate of the entire planet. This is an optimistic act, an opportunistic act, and a sublime act.
I See The Sublime In You explores the complex history of the aesthetic sublime, and through the lens of geoengineering, specifically the act of a ground-based albedo modification project in metropolitan Hong Kong, makes the case for a novel architectural sublime. I hope to foster ongoing discussions about the implication of the construction of the sublime, and how the positive performative rituals of climate remediation aim to erase centuries of neglectful, naïve, and negative industrialization.
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Model Photo 01
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