(Mis)representation of society? Problems in the relationships between architectural aesthetics and social meanings

Space and representation are currently hot subjects in discussions of Postmodernism/ity/ization. Whilst there are many difficulties in defining this new state (if it is new at all), there seems general agreement over certain resonant cultural shifts. Harvey (1989:7) quotes Eagleton: There is, perhaps, a degree of consensus that the typical postmodernist artefact is playful, self-ironizing and even schizoid; and that it reacts to the austere autonomy of high modernism by impudently embracing the language of commerce and the commodity. Its stance towards cultural tradition is one of irreverent pastiche, and its contrived depthlessness undermines all metaphysical solemnities, sometimes by a brutal aesthetic of squalor and shock.