Doors Open Milwaukee Stephanie Kovach

During Doors Open Milwaukee, I went on a tour of the Pabst Manson, chilled on the top (32nd floor) of the U.S. Bank Building (the tallest building in Wisconsin), and enjoyed a great view from the All

en-Bradley Clock Tower at Rockwell Automation (which has a green roof that is capable of holding a thousand gallons of storm water!).

 

At the Pabst Mansion, I learned about the heating system, their way of storing ice and how they reused what had melted, and how part of the building was actually used to be unattached, until Frederick Pabst decided to attached the terracotta addition.  The interior of the museum consisted of ornate furnishings and impressive fine art.  However, the most enjoyable part of the experience was the breach in time.  Although the Pabst family and myself are decades apart from being in the mansion, I felt as though I could empathize with them.  Through interacting with the space, learning about the history of the building, and learning about the people (servants, butlers, and family) of the mansion, I felt as if I were in that time period.  I could imagine myself being one of the servants, or one of the Pabst, or a friend of the Pabst.  

 

I find it interesting that one can connect with the past through a place,  A place can be a glimpse into what was/what could have been.  It's as if a place always has a sort of ghostly connotation, because, most likely, every step you have walked has already been touched by a past stranger.  Noticing this makes Milwaukee feel more interconnected than ever. 

Going on top of the U.S. Bank building was a very different perspective than that of the Pabst Mansion.  The Pabst Mansion felt more enclosed and was more sentimental of a space.  The Pabst Mansion's focus was the interior, where as the U.S. Bank building focused on an aerial view of Milwaukee.  Small scale versus large scale. 

The concept of being in one place to view other places is intriguing to me.  Tower viewers (AKA coin operated binoculars), looking into fish tanks, look outs, the place one uses a telescope, the place one uses a microscope, and the place one uses a television are all places that are used to experience/view other places.  It questions, is the place important or is what you are seeing in that place important.  Also, it questions, what is place?  Is place something definite?  How does one determine where one place stops and another begins?  Perhaps, if I would view into a telescope, the place in which I reside while viewing and the stars I am viewing is ONE PLACE in itself. 

 

In our reading, "Panopticism", Michel Foucault writes, "All that is needed, then, is to place a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman, a patient, a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy.  By the effect of back-lighting, one can observe from the tower, standing out precisely against the light, the small captive shadows in the cell of the periphery.  They are like so many cages, so many small theatres, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible."  So, then is it possible that the madman, patient, condemned man, and the worker/schoolboy are not in the same place, while they are in the Panopticon?  

If these people listed are not aware of each other's presence and have no interaction with one another, are they technically in the same place?  If I am experiencing the past at the Pabst Mansion, does that mean the crowd that was also in the Pabst Mansion last week wasn't in the same place as me?  Does a place have to be geographical?  Perhaps, a place can be perception.  Conversely as mentioned in "Experimental Geography", the prisoners of the panopticon would all be in the same place, using a cartographers "God's Eye View".  So are they in the same place?  But who then is the viewer?  Does the viewer have control over what place is for other people?

 

Furthermore, I feel as if the U.S. bank building is a panopticon.  When I was up on the 32nd floor, I could see a 360 view of Milwaukee.  There are a wide assortment of people in Milwaukee, similar to the list Foucault composed.  No one could see me looking up, due to the sun and windows.  Yet, I could see them all.  Perhaps, maybe people who walk by the U.S. bank building feel as if they are being watched, like the prisoners of the panopticon.  After all, the U.S. bank building is the tallest building in Wisconsin.