Psycho-Cybernetics (1960) by Maxwell Maltz, M.D., F.I.C.S.

‘Men seek retreats for themselves: houses in the country, seashores and mountains; and thou too art wont to desire such things very much,’ said Marcus Aurelius, ‘but this is altogether a mark of the most common sort of men, for it is in thy power whenever thou shalt choose to retire into thyself. For nowhere, either with more quiet or more freedom from trouble, does a man retire than into his own soul, particularly when he has within him such thoughts that by looking into them he is immediately in perfect tranquility; and I affirm that tranquility is nothing else than the good ordering of the mind.  Constantly then give thyself to this retreat, and renew thyself…’ (Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated by George Long, Mount Vernon, N.Y., Peter Pauper Press.)

Renderings via Dezeen

With Maxwell Maltz’s (M.D., F.I.C.S.) “Do-It-Yourself Tranquilizers,” forget expensive tree-house hotel vacations and journey into the “quiet room in your mind.” Architecture’s diminutive role as the fulfillment of fantasy, whether lifestyle dream-image or speculative investment, prompts a reconsideration of architecture’s inherent value as a built form.  The immediate obsolescence of fixed capital in the accumulation of ground rent means that an architect must tend toward densification and verticalization, or a structure which will constantly reaffirm a site’s cultural value.

At one instant we desire peace and quiet, at the next stimulation and arousal.  Could our immediate environment ever offer more than could our mind?  Perhaps virtual media offers a more cost effective response than architecture. A conflation of time and space, the screen holds the capacity for quick solutions to fleeting emotional conditions.

As an analogy under the confines of ground rent, the white box neutrality of the contemporary art gallery embodies “the quiet room” escape as a spatial phenomenon.  Serving to clarify, divide, and sort stimuli in order to achieve a state where emotional responses relate directly to discrete art objects, the white box may most effectively conflate time and space under the condition of capital accumulation.  After all, art is for sale, a commodity whose value depends on, shall we say, societal cybernetics, or, perhaps a cultural zeitgeist.

“Joe/Narcissus (Jack Bittner) is an ordinary man who has recently signed a complicated lease on a room. As he wonders how to pay the rent, he discovers that he can see the contents of his mind unfolding whilst looking into his eyes in the mirror. He realises that he can apply his gift to others (“If you can look inside yourself, you can look inside anyone!”), and sets up a business in his room, selling tailor-made dreams to a variety of frustrated and neurotic clients.” -wikipedia

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