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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Arts The Beauty of Offshore Drilling Platforms

Posted by Charles Mudede on Tue, May 18, 2010 at 10:07 AM

Despite everything, despite the dead ugliness they bring to the living surface of the world, we cannot act as if offshore drilling platforms are not the opposite of horrible eyesores. They are magnificent, they are the descendants of Our Lady of Chartres, they are the cathedrals of the oil industry. Indeed, recognition of this connection will add to our understanding of why it is that Christians on the right side of politics so deeply admire offshore drilling—they can't help but be impressed by the almost Gothic severity of an offshore platform, out there in the sea like a cathedral on a mountain.

True, drilling platforms are impressive structures, but offshore wind turbines also have religious echoes:

Phault

With these machines, we see something that approximates the spiritual elongation found in much of the traditional art of Eastern Christianity. For that old branch of the church, to be holy is to be thin and long.

Comments (13) RSS

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My fave is the windmills that fly in long kite-enabled swoops in the upper currents of the atmosphere.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 18, 2010 at 10:17 AM

Despite his self-satisfied literary pretensions, Charles cannot not resist not using double negatives. not.

Posted by CrankyBacon on May 18, 2010 at 10:22 AM

Brilliant, Charles!

Posted by The Accidental Theologist

on May 18, 2010 at 10:25 AM

Can you nail a savior to it?

Posted by Mahtli69 on May 18, 2010 at 10:26 AM

The windmills invoke minarets in my mind.

Posted by You_Gotta_Be_Kidding_Me on May 18, 2010 at 10:32 AM

I've always thought offshore drills look deeply sexual.

Posted by TVDinner

on May 18, 2010 at 10:48 AM

@2, nor could shakespeare.

Posted by Charles Mudede on May 18, 2010 at 10:54 AM

i demand proper aesthetic theory, a discussion of the religious, natural, and technological sublime (all embodied in wind turbine photo, i'd say), and i want to read about connections between it and the old industrial economy/materiality/heaviness and the post-industrial economy/ephemerality/lightness. these generalizations and links to photos (which are great, by the way) don't suffice!

Posted by keith

on May 18, 2010 at 10:58 AM

Oh, come on, you love improper aesthetic theory, in all it's glorious rust-embossed natural beauty.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on May 18, 2010 at 11:13 AM

I'm worried: if one of these wind turbines collapses into the waters off Martha's Vineyard, does this mean their shores will be overwhelmed by a spillage of wind?

Posted by Telsa Grills on May 18, 2010 at 11:50 AM

Well observed. One could also see the Trinity, the Wheel of Life, or any type of triskele.

Posted by thatsnotright on May 18, 2010 at 12:10 PM

Bravo Charles/@7. An even-measured defense to be sure. Though I'm not sure you come off as well as you think with that comparison.

Posted by CrankyBacon on May 18, 2010 at 12:49 PM

ah! they are super gothic. When i was in prague they were lasering the facade of a huge monster gothic church, removing the last 400 years of dark wood/coal/oil smoke and grime that must be very similar to the grime on the drillers. Thing is, everyone hated what it looked like clean, the dirt was what told it's story.

Posted by Cecil on May 18, 2010 at 2:09 PM