"The experience of making connections in real time and real space has
always fascinated me," Rockwell confides to Perlman in an interview in
the book.
It started early on, when his mother used to take him to a New Jersey
community theater where she was a choreographer. In that tidy suburban
bubble, the theater hinted of a larger, messier life. In Guadalajara,
where his mother moved with his stepfather when he was 11, Rockwell
discovered the chaos of a Mexican market and the exhilaration of crowds.
The experiences shaped him. "Spectacle" is a way of articulating the
never-ending thrill of joyful crowds with a singular purpose.
"There is an inverse relationship between the fleeting and the lasting
event," Rockwell asserted. The fleeting event -- the spectacle -- is in
some ways the more powerful because it 'links to our sense of humanity.
I had many losses early on in my life. My dad died when I was 2. I lost
my mom when I was 15, and I lost my brother to AIDS 15 years ago."
The lesson learned?
"To strive for permanence is stultifying when you want to encounter
chance."
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"Spectacle" by David Rockwell with Bruce Mau (Phaidon Press; 256 pages;
$49.95) is available at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art store,
(415) 357-4035
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/25/LVGU1OO1IH1.DTL
[on the same page, Rumi, this years flavour]