Heterotopien ((full)) Instant

The first principle is that heterotopias exist in every culture, but they take two primary forms. In so-called “primitive” societies, we find —sacred or forbidden places reserved for individuals in a state of crisis or transition. Think of the honeymoon trip (a liminal space for the newly married), the boarding school (for adolescents leaving childhood), or the military service (for young men entering adulthood). These are spaces for those whose relationship to society is fragile, temporary, or in flux.

This is perhaps the most surreal principle. A heterotopia has the power to juxtapose in a single real place several emplacements that are, in themselves, incompatible. The most stunning example is the : its most sacred part was a carpet-like quadrilateral with a fountain at its center—a symbolic representation of the four quarters of the world. The garden was a real space that contained a microcosm of the entire cosmos. Modern equivalents include movie theaters (a two-dimensional screen that opens onto a three-dimensional universe of a detective’s office, a spaceship, or a medieval castle) or the zoo (a single park that contains the savannah, the jungle, and the Arctic, all separated by mere meters). heterotopien

A single heterotopia can change its function over time, sometimes radically. A cemetery is a perfect example. In the 19th century, the cemetery was often at the heart of the village, next to the church—the most sacred and central of spaces. It was a heterotopia of crisis, connecting the living to their ancestors. Today, the cemetery has been pushed to the periphery of cities. It has become a heterotopia of deviation, a place for the “illness” of death, which modern, secular society finds uncomfortable. The same physical space shifts its meaning as the culture’s relationship to death changes. The first principle is that heterotopias exist in

Finally, heterotopias have a specific function in relation to the remaining space of society. They serve one of two purposes. They can create a that exposes the rest of real space as even more illusory. The classic brothel, in Foucault’s analysis, is a heterotopia of illusion: its rituals and performances reveal the hidden sexual hypocrisies and repressions of the straight-laced town outside. These are spaces for those whose relationship to

We are accustomed to thinking about space in simple, binary terms: here versus there, inside versus outside, private versus public. We have a mental map of the world divided into nations, cities, rooms, and social categories. But what if certain spaces exist that defy these neat classifications? What if there are places that act as counter-sites—real places that simultaneously reflect, contest, and invert all the other places we inhabit? These are the domains of what Michel Foucault called Heterotopias .