Heterotopien -

A single heterotopia can change its function over time, sometimes radically. A cemetery is a perfect example. In the 19th century, the cemetery was often at the heart of the village, next to the church—the most sacred and central of spaces. It was a heterotopia of crisis, connecting the living to their ancestors. Today, the cemetery has been pushed to the periphery of cities. It has become a heterotopia of deviation, a place for the “illness” of death, which modern, secular society finds uncomfortable. The same physical space shifts its meaning as the culture’s relationship to death changes.

We are accustomed to thinking about space in simple, binary terms: here versus there, inside versus outside, private versus public. We have a mental map of the world divided into nations, cities, rooms, and social categories. But what if certain spaces exist that defy these neat classifications? What if there are places that act as counter-sites—real places that simultaneously reflect, contest, and invert all the other places we inhabit? These are the domains of what Michel Foucault called Heterotopias . heterotopien

The first principle is that heterotopias exist in every culture, but they take two primary forms. In so-called “primitive” societies, we find —sacred or forbidden places reserved for individuals in a state of crisis or transition. Think of the honeymoon trip (a liminal space for the newly married), the boarding school (for adolescents leaving childhood), or the military service (for young men entering adulthood). These are spaces for those whose relationship to society is fragile, temporary, or in flux. A single heterotopia can change its function over