The first thing to note about Howl is how influential this poem has been. The array of references across the desk included photographer (and maker of the Rolling Stones film Cocksucker Blues) Robert Frank, William Burrough's inquisition of language; The Job, Archigram originals and museum pieces, even the first Glastonbury album with lots of hippie extras plus plenty more. All presume to question our assumptions on our notion of freedom, in a climate where we might appear to finally have it, but where the enemy is now a the military industrial complex as much as parental conformity. These are challenged by a new sense of sexual freedom and spiritual enlightenment. I pointed out that spiritual enlightenment has consistently filled a supposed vacuum since Nietzsche declared 'God is Dead' in 1882) In our field, in architecture, it meant questioning what architecture actually was, and who was getting in the way of our so called fresh opportunities (we can make steel any length etc; where did the idealism go?...Put 600,000 people in a field for three days.. etc).
Lefebvre's enquiry in to what language means is rather replaced by an emphasis on the restriction of language itself, since that is the vehicle of authority; or the Media is the Message, a concept espoused by Marshall McLuhan and very popular through the sixties. McLuhan saw us entering a newly tactile world (but he was also a devout catholic, so that would suit him). I wonder how this looks to us now given actual corporatization.
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