'Resistance to the New': lecture by Mark Cousins, 22nd May, 1998

Extent: 1 audio cassette (90mins), 4 digital files (713.6 MB)

Comprises audio recording of a lecture entitled 'Resistance to the New' given by Mark Cousins on 22nd May, 1998. Recordings consist of a Maxwell 90 audio cassette tape, 2 digital preservation files (582 MB, .wav format) and 2 digital access files (131.6 MB, .mp3 format). Duration of access version: 49min 24sec

Copyright: Architectural Association

Creator: Mark Cousins

Admin History: The recording is of the 16th lecture in the series entitled 'The New', given by Mark Cousins as part of the AA General Studies programme, 1997-98. In this lecture, Mark Cousins focuses on what he terms the resistance to the new and a certain propensity to a kind of mental conservatism. Firstly, he talks about what Freud calls the pleasure principle. After that, he debates a clear distinction between the death drive and the pleasure principle and a path of instinctual gratification. Furthermore, Cousins scrutinizes the relation between thinking something new and how fragile it is. Finally, he concludes with a discussion of the narcissistic relation to objects and an aesthetic equivalence between the simple and the beautiful as well as the relationship between complexity and eroticized work.

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 Samaneh Karimelahi

Publication Note: AA Events List, Summer Term, Week 4, 18-22nd May, 1998