Material, Motif and Memory

Abstract

Gottfried Semper’s contribution to modern (and contemporary) architecture has been inadequately explored. This is unfortunate, because Semper’s ideas on materiality and ‘artistic appearance’ (Semper 1989: 190) provide – or so it will be argued – a concept that moves between material ‘honesty’ (that is associated with Modernism), and the arbitrary application of styles and symbols (that is associated with Post-modernism). Unfortunately, the somewhat detailed, and at times fragmented, nature of Semper’s thought has lent itself to the misinterpretation that he was, tectonically speaking, a ‘materialist’ – which is not the case. This paper presents a theoretical reconstruction of Semper’s primary thesis regarding the role of artistic motifs in the process of material transformation (stoffwechsel), through which materials are linked to metaphor and to tectonic memory. The paper extends these ideas via a conversation with Richard Wollheim (1987) and Arthur Danto (1981), and finally returns to the question of Modern versus Post-modern representation. The paper concludes that material metaphor (as derived from Semper) is cogent for architecture in that it supports a liberal imagination, and a mode of representation that is mediated by histories of material/tectonic cultureSekusobala ukuthi umsebenzi waGottfiried Semper awenzele umphakathi webadwebi bezindlu awukavezwa ngendlela efanele. Ngaloku kwabaningi uSemper ungumuntu othatheleka phansi yize efake igalelo ngekusebenzisa izitayela nemfanekiso ejulile ekwakheni izindlu. Ngenca yokuthi ungumuntu obengazichayisi ekuhlanganisebi izinto zekwakha kanye nemfanikiso, abaningi ababhali bamazi njengomuntu obesebenza ngezinto zokwakha kuphela. Leliphepha libheka umsebenti ka Semper, inhloso yawo, kanye nendlela abekasebenzisa ngayo izitayela nemfanekiso kuze izakhiwo zakhe zivele zinobuchwephesha. Leliphepha lihlahla indlela yokubona umsebenzi ka Semper kabusha, liphinde libukeze loku mayelana nemisebenti ka Richard Wollheim (1987) no Arthur Danto (1981) abebagcule ezindleleni zokwakha zesimanjemaje kanye nalezo ezifaka izinhlanga ezihlukahlukene. Leliphepha libhalwe kuze libeke ebaleni ukuthi ukusebenzisa izitayela zika Semper kanye nemifanekiso yakhe kuvula izindlela eziningi nezinobuchwephesha ekwakheni izindlu.