This week, I had the good fortune of revisiting my exploration of utopia from this summer by attending a speech presented by the library to kick off the gallery exhibition of the Arthur O. Lewis Utopia Collection in the Special Collections Library. The exhibition was created in honor of the Society for Utopian Studies’ annual conference recently held here at Penn State. Dr. Nathaniel Coleman, of Newcastle University, UK, gave a presentation entitled “Representing Utopia: Images of Ideal Places?” which he presented at the conference earlier in the week. Dr. Coleman is a senior lecturer in architecture at Newcastle University and has attended the University of Pennsylvania, the City College of New York, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He has had architecture practices in both New York City and Rome, Italy. I tend to think of the study of “utopia” as a literary pursuit, so I was interested to find out that the speaker was an architect. If you recall from my previous post, however, a category focusing on architecture was planned on being included in the exhibit (and it is! Go check it out!). Though I was initially drawn to this section of the collection by the beautiful pictures, it turns out that architecture is, in fact, quite an important part of utopia, starting with the very first Utopia by Thomas More, who designed his own island to house the society he described.
Unsurprisingly to me, after my previous brief foray into utopian studies, Dr. Coleman started his talk with a discussion of the definition of “utopia.” It might seem silly to you that a debate about the very definition of “utopia” is still occurring. This debate can really be traced back to the etymology of the word itself. In his writings, More left the term purposely vague to describe his own version of utopia. Defining the term sets the foundation for the study of the works it inspires. Dr. Coleman specifically was trying to find a way to define “utopia” in an architectural sense, and he spent some time explaining the differences between ideal, visionary, and utopian. To the best of my understanding, his idea of utopia must include some kind of social component–utopias must find a way to move society forward. A design can be “ideal” or “visionary,” but to be “utopian” there must be an additional social component.
Dr. Coleman developed his theory on architectural utopia by discussing French architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux’s work. In all honesty, I had never heard of Ledoux before, but it became readily apparent why his works are still considered “utopian.” In his talk, Dr. Coleman debated if and how Ledoux’s ideas, particularly his famous Saltworks design, qualify as utopian. The Saltworks was a town centered on the salt industry that was very similar to Ledoux’s theoretical town of Chaux. Both towns share a focus on industry and a set up that is reminiscent of the Panopticon (a jail consisting of a circle of cells surrounding an observation area, so the prisoners always feel watched even when no one is at the post). Dr. Coleman explored the utopian and dystopian connotations that accompany the authoritative aspects of Chaux and the Saltworks.
Dr. Coleman’s talk was illuminating and it really opened my eyes to the multidisciplinary approach that one can take to the concept of utopia. Architecture can be a distinctly utopian practice, especially in city planning, though it still remains tricky to define and identify. I encourage you all to get out to the Special Collections Library Exhibition Hall, 104 Paterno Library and check out the “This Way to Utopia” exhibition going on now!