Recognition by Fame: New York City
“Photographs expand the representation and scope of the building art. They are a kind of alter ego of building form and identity, facilitating the reputation of a work of architecture and yet diminishing the importance of the actual building.”
-Mitchell Schwarzer "Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media"
New York City – and perhaps especially Manhattan Island – may be the greatest city for wandering that I have yet visited. There’s a familiarity with New York that comes from an infinite number of sources. The famous landmarks on nearly every block have been mentioned, shown, used as locations and characters, and photographed in an plethora of pop culture media, educational examples, American folklore, and any number of other forums. It’s probably the most mentioned city in modern history.
No matter your interest in urban forms, famous building, architectural or public space landmarks, you can barely walk a city block without recognizing something. Manhattan helps with this business of city blocks, too. The exemplary grid layout works so well as a way-finding, as does any time the urban system gets broken. Broadway cuts an non-parallel pathway through the grid, forcing interesting places like Times Square and the infamous Gridiron building. Rockefeller Plaza combines three blocks to allow space for the world’s most famous (yet shockingly small) skating rink. Soho and Greenwich suddenly feel very village-like with small labyrinthine streets in such great contrast to the wide avenues of the rest of the island.
When you first learn of a place through a narrative (film, tv show, book, etc…), and even through a photograph, you are seeing that place through a filter, called the artist. The artist will invariably insert their own image, experience, emotion and thought process, and this “filter” forms the medium through which you get their message. While wandering through Manhattan, I felt the shock of disconnection between my ‘memories’ of these places, and actually being there. It’s hard to visit Manhattan in an unbiased mindset.
What I wanted to keep in mind, though, because of the myriad of interesting and important sites in New York City, was that whatever route I took was valid. I never worried about missing something, or about seeing too much something else. That’s the purpose of wandering. It’s a communication with the city. You can tell the city where you want to go, like a tour, and that has its merits, but to me, the purpose of wandering is to live without a regret. You never miss a thing, as long as you are where you want you to be.
