book review: Place, Art, and Self

Place, Art and Self by Yi-Fu Tuan
review by David Shabazian

When does a location gain the meaning of a “place?” This question is explored in this philosophical venture through the many considerations that one may use to identify somewhere as a “place.” Tuan first defines “place” and, of course, it’s relative. You can be somewhere two weeks and it becomes a “place” or “home” to you. You also may have different boundaries that define a “place”, a house, a block, a city, a state …. As we migrate through the stages of life, our definition of  “place” or “home” changes, just as it does as we travel and begin to draw a connection between various locations. This aspect of the book is intriguing and it is a shame that Tuan’s discussion on art did not follow on this theme.

Tuan’s ideas of  “place” venture into the art that we see and experience around us. Here’s where the book begins to get a bit too philosophical. Tuan is not as interested in how art influences the sense of, or definition of  “place,” but rather how art is a “virtual place.” While interesting, the book stretches the definition of place into a realm that is somewhat incongruous with the idea of geographic and temporal boundaries shaping the meaning of place for each of us. The ability of art to “take you somewhere” or provoke feels about a time or place that you have experienced is nothing new. It seems that for this book, a more appropriate discussion of art would have been geared toward how it enhances the geographic or temporal parameters that define place throughout one’s life. A discussion more along this idea would have nicely tied together art and place in the philosophical context with which Tuan starts the book.

Comments

[E. Tage Larsen]

David, have you read the Tacita Dean book "Place"? Mostly it's an exhibition catalogue disguised as a book. She focuses on contemporary art and what she sees is a schism between space and place.