Scenes of Ambivalence: Concluding Remarks on Architectural Patterns of Displacement

Abstract

Displacement provokes disruptions and shifts of meanings and conventions. Patterns of displacement are not confined to highbrow artistic practices, but manifest themselves in everyday environments too. We analyze this by confronting the case studies of this double theme issue with a theoretical framework focusing on the concepts of metaphor, mimesis, modernity, and identity. We argue that architecture can function as a receptacle, as an instrument, or as staging of displacement. Sometimes, architecture manages to generate possibilities to turn contradiction into ambivalence.