what we see in a particular painting merely a section of an implied continuity, or is the painti

work of Mondrian, taken together with its various and conflicting readings, is a perfect example of this dispute.

matrix of ambi-or multivalence, and the bars of the windows-the grid-

-the unfecund immobility of the mirror

lastic Art

lso reflects. And so the window is experienced by the symbolist as a mirror as well-something that 4. See Lorenz Eitner, "The Open Window and the Storm-Tossed Boat: an Essay in the Iconogra

The grid declares the space of art to be at once autonomous and autotelic.

ty scientifically from an airplane in order

reforms (urban, social and institutional)

the plaza mayor was transformed into a densely planted garden, adornedwith memorials.

“empty spaces waiting for a form, but genuineplaces designed to accommodate various shapes, according to a conception of theurban space and the act of celebration that the ephemeral Baroque was able toillustrate—perusing the rites of death, the triumphal entrances, and both sacredand profane exaltations—for a new and political production of social consensus35

Indeed, out of one hundred and forty-eight ordinances, the fifty-two articles that specifically refer to theurbanization process—site selection, layout, plan, square, location of the main buildings—confirmed what hadbecome common practice in the Indies: the open checkerboard plan generated from the plaza mayor aspolitical and social center.

In the background, the lakes connected to the underground silvermines conjure the violent exploitation process of this proto-industrial epoch, which caused the death of hundredsof thousands of Indian workers.

the heaps of ruins slowed down thereconstruction, but they must also have oriented it. In this city in transition, the surviving houses of the Indiancaciques had to coexist with the half-ruined temples; Cortés’ enormous fortress (on the location of Montezuma’sold and new palace—today the National Palace); the original and modest cathedral built with the stones of Aztecpyramids; and a few hundred houses inhabited by the Spanish

rebuildingTenochtitlán

“expressed thewisdom of its creators who sought to protect themselves from the sun and the violent rains in all times1

the city as community

being an “American” in space:the presence, both physical and symbolic, of a checkerboard of streets organized from a central square

d reality:

“I just wanted to be sure that all of them realized that ending the war, and cleaning up the streets and the air and the water, was not going to solve spiritual hunger, which all of us have,” Nixon wrote in his diary.

passes through cities that are badly paved, made hideous by litter, blighted buildings, billboards, and posts for wires that should long since have been put underground,” he wrote. “They picnic . . . by a polluted stream and go on to spend the night at a park which is a menace to public health and morals. Just before dozing off on an air mattress, beneath a nylon tent, amid the stench of decaying refuse, they may reflect vaguely on the curious unevenness of their blessings. Is this, indeed, the American genius?”

never-attempted history of NativeAmerica

hesetunesareasmuchapartofoursoundscapeasarethesongsofbirds,sowhywouldIexpectanurbanmockingbirdtomakeadistinctionbetweenthe

President

Mineral leases, claims, etc