In Alex Krieger’s “As Though in Flight” what stood out to
me, was how appealing the bird’s eye view was to the people and how early
(before the 18th century) aerial views were truly imagery. “…Bird’s
eye perspective offered citizens the next best thing. Revealing and at times
exaggerating characteristics of the places…became immensely popular…The rapid
changes brought by industrialization created a desire to better describe,
understand and take pride in the urban development” (p.11). Growing up with
google maps makes it difficult for our generation to appreciate how intriguing
and advanced these views were to the people. Our ability to view any place at
the world from a street view, takes away the importance, pride, and hope of
discovering something new. The imagery in these views was to show the people
how much more of the world there was to discover, and to show the infinite
amount of land left to settle on.
These views were more of a narrative, rather than
descriptions of facts. The artist decided what he wanted/didn’t want to include
and what he wanted to emphasize. “…Most buildings in the view appear nearly
equal in prominence…this was intentional…if more people could identify their
homes or business, or other important town landmarks, more would be proud to
own or display such a view…”(p.16). Through these views, people took pride in
their hometown, showed off their land, and reached out to the American dream.
I think the bird’s eye view was so appealing because people were, as Alex Krieger says, so grounded (no airplanes, skyscrapers, internet videos, etc.) and perhaps didn't ever see anything from much higher than the ground. I think that we may have been originally appreciative of the bird’s eye perspective when we were first exposed to it, probably at a young age. Perhaps later, we became so accustomed to the perspective that in our maturity we take it for granted. I think many of us are, however, grateful for the Google Earth (or Google maps) perspective, and we may have not yet all grown unenthusiastic or much less appreciative of it. I agree that the world seems a lot less untamed and unexplored in this day and age, partly due to systems like Google maps, which exhaustively detail seemingly every crevice of the Earth’s surface. I think there is still hope for exploration and adventure in the oceans, in the deep rain forests, in subterranean caves, etc. These unexplored places may lead to new settlement, art, and map-making.
ReplyDeleteI agree that one purpose of the imagery was to get people enthusiastic about settling the new land. It may have been part propaganda or salesmanship to get people to colonize the land and thereby plant their roots deep into the soils so as to ensure the longevity and scope of the baby country. I think that by detailing specific residences or places on their works, artists could more easily sell their Picassos.
I agree completely, it is very appealing. Alex Krieger did an excellent job exemplifying the importance and utter beauty of the bird's eye view. Not only did the bird's eye view provid a "new" insight towards people's way of viewing and understanding the landscape and areas around them, it allows them to further conceptualize the idea of "development" that is beyond the ground's perspective.
ReplyDeleteRegarding your statements towards google maps, I absolutely agree. Although I would like to add that, yes, despite google maps simplifying the beauty of maps, they are created for "convenience". Which I support and am perfectly fine with.
Even though I would like maps to hold its' charm through literature and imagery, I believe that the "core" ( and I use this statement loosely ) purpose of the map was to create an understanding of the landscape and to capture the strategic benefits of it.
This was, in my opinion, an accurate response to the material containing the same thoughts I had about it. This new way of looking at the world and being able to familiarize oneself with the area was an astounding accomplishment for this time. Not only was it the first time a person was able to almost "fly" and see the world from above, they could share this experience with everyone and anyone could get their hands on a view from up high. They could see the same things, the mountains, trees, rivers, houses and everything, but from a completely different perspective.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your comment about how google maps is available to everyone now and we may have lost the same awe and wonder that people had originally about this new discovery. However, I know it is still a commonly used method of being able to look at any part of the world and familiarize yourself with what life is like there via the bird's eye view or the street view.