At the Lux Coffeebar, located in an area characterized as the revitalizing central spine of Phoenix, the diffusion of the body into space gestures toward an abstract conception of the recent past. Atmosphere is emitted as a blur of bass and background, furnished with an eclectic mix of semi-derelict designer
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Examples of this condition can be found almost everywhere, perhaps most notably in the emergence of the contemporary city as the preferred setting for the hipster, the digerati,9 and even Baby Boomer retirees. The buzz of perpetual motion created by human bodies, traffic and infrastructure blends with the personal soundtrack of the iPod10 to create a trance-like state in which the individual effectively becomes the surroundings.11
artifacts from the last century. A DJ plays ambient music just loud enough to blend with the volume of natural conversation, providing accompaniment to video projections of mostly indistinct images digitized from reels of damaged celluloid. As diffusion is achieved on a perceptual level, the atmosphere suggests warmth and continuity within a process of slow decay; the patron – or inhabitant – loses cogency into gently stimulating space. Comforted by cool, yet familiar objects such as a George Nelson lamp or a Philippe Starck chair, the individual can be relieved of the psychasthenic burden of otherness as he or she slips into the dreamy imagery of a longedfor 20th century modernism.
Veneration of the Aesthetic If diffusion describes a condition in which the distinction between the body and space blurs into a state of perceptual delirium, veneration takes the notion of a being within a perpetual present along a horizontal trajectory into an invented temporality, facilitated by the willing
photography by Melanie Shelor
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competing temporal and spatial demands, like talking on the phone while driving, lead to a form of psychic “vertigo” for the individual8 – it is evident how the environment comes to be viewed as a chaotic haze of ambient stimulation.