'Damage and the Devil': lecture by Mark Cousins, 10th May, 1996

Extent: 2 digital files (531.2 MB )

Comprises audio recording of a lecture entitled 'Damage and the Devil', given by Mark Cousins on the 10th May, 1996. The recordings consist of a Scotch CX90 audio cassette tape, a digital preservation file (433 MB, .wav format) and a digital access files (98.2 MB, .mp3 format). Duration of access version: 42min 57sec.

Copyright: Architectural Association

Creator: Mark Cousins

Admin History: The recording is of the 19th lecture in the series entitled 'Damage', given by Mark Cousins as part of the AA General Studies programme, 1995-96. In the history of pathologies of space, or spatial fears, Mark Cousins points out the status of internal objects being projected onto the world as an external source of threat for domestic or urban spaces. Cousins considers religious ethics and superstitious beliefs of the middle ages and the idea of sin and desire constructed a worldview of cruel places, hell, and the devil. He further elaborates on the 19th century development of defining spatial fears such as agoraphobia, claustrophobia and certain forms of paranoia related with the experience of the city. He argues that in the domestic environment, the fear of any imperfection or catastrophe, from dirt to broken windows, has a link with projecting the body onto the house. He points out that in a Freudian sense, such spatial pathology is a protection from the unconscious and repressed desire, a reveal of the underlying structure. Cousins argues that it is possible to think, from a Nietzschean sense, that we exist within fields of forces, instead of seeing conditions as a binary 'inside' and 'outside'. He considers that, as a topographical theory of the psyche, the psychoanalytic thought can also be a means by which to interrogate urban conditions.

Custodial History: Original recording (format unknown) was made by the AA Audio Visual Department and a digital copy (.WMA format) has been retained on the department's servers since c2013.

Aquisition: Digital preservation and access copies were created by the AA Archives in 2021, using the digital file held by the the AA Audio Visual Department.

Archive Note: Catalogue description by Ke Bo Tsai

Publication Note: AA Events List, Week 3, Summer Term, 7-10th May, 1996