The Eye and the Gaze in John Hejduk's Architecture

존 헤이덕 건축에서의 시선과 응시

This paper is an attempt to find/make an entrance to John Hejduk's architecture. Based explicitly on both Karl Popper's model of knowledge production called 'conjecture and refutation' and Harold Bloom's theory of poetry called 'revisionism', this paper, in order to produce a new problem, mainly deals with an existing knowledge as an object to refute, that is, Michael Hays' interpretation of Wall House by Jacques Lacan's notion of the gaze, Hejduk's a pivotal architectural finding. The arguments underlying this paper are two: First, Hejduk, just like this paper, follows Popper's model and Bloom's theory in conducting his own architectural research. Secondly, he takes what might be called artist's attitude when absorbing previous knowledge and producing new one. These two arguments are made in the first part and then served as a basic propositions for further arguments. In the process of criticizing the way in which Hays explicates Hejduk's Wall House, this paper reaches two main arguments. First, Lacan's notion of the gaze is not proper specifically for the explication of it. However, it may be useful and even promising when dealing with other works such as Subject/Object and House of the Inhabitant Who Refused to Participate. Secondly, Freud's notion of 'uncanny', arguably Hejduk's strong architectural orientation, may serve much better as a main gate among possibly many ones in trying to open his architecture. It is considered that this might also serve as an important clue to solving mysticism remaining yet untouched in his architecture.