Towering Invisibilities: A Cultural Theoretical Reading of the Eiffel Tower and the One World Trade Center

TY - JOUR

T1 - Towering Invisibilities

T2 - A Cultural Theoretical Reading of the Eiffel Tower and the One World Trade Center

AU - Steiner, Henriette

AU - Veel, Kristin Eva Albrechtsen Haahr

PY - 2019/4/1

Y1 - 2019/4/1

N2 - This article explores forms of visuality in architecture in which symbolic and functional values interlink by considering two visually striking and deeply symbolic landmarks that tower over their respective cities at the same time as their impact is related to the invisible wireless communication they facilitate. It contrasts cultural-theoretical responses to the Eiffel Tower (1889) with readings of the One World Trade Center (2014). In this way, we contour a theoretical framework to grasp the compounded forms of signification these towers embody and address the latent and invisible signification at work by turning to the work of the French philosophers Roland Barthes (1915-1980) and Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998).

AB - This article explores forms of visuality in architecture in which symbolic and functional values interlink by considering two visually striking and deeply symbolic landmarks that tower over their respective cities at the same time as their impact is related to the invisible wireless communication they facilitate. It contrasts cultural-theoretical responses to the Eiffel Tower (1889) with readings of the One World Trade Center (2014). In this way, we contour a theoretical framework to grasp the compounded forms of signification these towers embody and address the latent and invisible signification at work by turning to the work of the French philosophers Roland Barthes (1915-1980) and Jean-Francois Lyotard (1924-1998).

U2 - 10.1177/1077800418790297

DO - 10.1177/1077800418790297

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1077-8004

VL - 25

SP - 407

EP - 416

JO - Qualitative Inquiry

JF - Qualitative Inquiry

IS - 4

ER -