'Pliny and Heartache': lecture by Mark Cousins, 19th November, 1999

Extent: 1 audio cassette (90min), 4 digital files (698.1 MB )

Comprises audio recording of a lecture entitled 'Pliny and Heartache', given by Mark Cousins on the 19th November, 1999. The recordings consist of a Maxwell 90 audio cassette tape, 2 digital preservation files (569 MB, .wav format) and 2 digital access files (129.1 MB, .mp3 format). Duration of access version: 53min 17sec.

Copyright: Architectural Association

Creator: Mark Cousins

Admin History: The recording is of the 2nd lecture in the series entitled 'Imago', given by Mark Cousins as part of the AA General Studies programme, 1999-2000.In this lecture, Mark Cousins focuses upon Pliny the Elder's narratives for the origin of painting and of the competition between Zeuxis and Parrhasius in order to elaborate on the idea of 'the object behind the object'. Cousins points out that within Pliny's origin of painting story, the outlining the shadow is already the first type of representation - just like answering the lover's question 'how close are you', the shadow is too close and too far. According to Cousins, what Pliny calls the origin of painting is this ratio between the empty and the filled in the moment before anyone can ever bear to fill out the outline as a monochrome. Cousins argues that if one asks a lover 'what is it you want to see', then one reveals on an empirical level the absurdity of the wish, where the graven and the wish to see behind constitute almost the elementary sketch of an economy whose terms are desire, the missing, and the prospect of loss.

Custodial History: Audio cassette recording was made by the AA Audio Visual Department and retained by the AA Photo Library until 2019, when it was transferred to the AA Archives.

Aquisition: Audio cassette was transferred from the AA Photo Library to the AA Archives in 2019. Digital preservation and access copies were created by the AA Archives in 2021.

Archive Note: Catalogue description by Ke Bo Tsai

Publication Note: AA Events List, Week 7, Autumn Term, 15th - 19th November, 1999