Geographical Unconscious

Dr Argyro Loukaki is Associate Professor, Hellenic Open University, and Head of Department of Archaeological Works, 1st Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Greece.

• Contents: Introduction; Part I Archetypal Spatialities: The space of heroes; Sappho: light and the sacred cosmologies of the human body. Part II Byzantine Participatory Spatialities and Modern Art: Byzantine art, Cubism, Surrealism; Mediterranean fermentations in early modernity: El Greco’s Mare Meum. Part III Modernity as Urban Visual Experience: Paris-Patras: modern urban geographies of visual elation. Part IV Cosmopolitan Modernisms and the East: F.L. Wright, D. Pikionis and N. Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas: Japanese space as archetype and unconscious; Frank Lloyd Wright and Japan; Dimitris Pikionis, Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas and the East. Part V Past-Future Space: Baroque cyberspatialities; In place of conclusions: space and vision: retraining and rebooting; Bibliography; Index.

’The book you hold is a veritable intellectual tour de force. Precisely at a time when the debate over modernity seems to be over, Argyro Loukaki’s book opens up a radically new perspective that questions the very foundations of western-centric understandings of modernity. Her imaginative reworking of the geographical unconsciousness implies the need to take a stance articulated around a new aesthetic critique that breaks with post-modern indifference and embraces the ultra-modern necessity for a new ethics today.’ Erik Swyngedouw, Manchester University, UK ’An ambitious, eloquent and sensitive excavation of ways of thinking and seeing landscapes, places and spaces over the ages. This is a book to restore faith in the human ability to shape diverse worlds in ways consistent with ancient and modern ideals of justice, beauty and morality.’ David Harvey, CUNY Graduate Center, USA 'It’s a collection of SNAPASHOTS that cuts through geography, art history, philosophy and cultural studies. What makes ME particularly excited is it’s art-historical ambitions'. Kostis Kourelis, Franklin & Marshall College 'The diversity of geographical expressions explored by Loukaki is really notable. While many of them have already been individually examined, it is the first time that all of them become part of a comparative study. Poetry, Byzantine iconography, painting, urban design and architecture are presented here as communicators of geographical knowledge'. Society and Space ' ... this is a book that I believe deserves the attention of every cultural geographer open to dialogue with the humanities. And it is certainly a book that, consciously or unconsciously, will challenge the way of seeing modernity of man.' Geographical Review