Originally published in Atlantis Magazine #33.1, titled (in)visible, this essay explores lessons from quantum physics to articulate the active power of visibility in shaping marginalized communities
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Across a wide array of disciplines, there is a renewed emphasis on making under-recognized communities more “visible.” While this is undoubtedly a vital part of justice efforts, this approach disproportionately attends to the observer as the focus of operation. This visibility framework works to make mainstream perspectives be confronted by and inclusive of the narratives and histories of people who were previously ignored, silenced, or disenfranchised. However, it often glazes over the complex operations that occur to and within “invisible” communities during their shift into mainstream visibility. This complex shift draws interesting comparisons to work in quantum physics which posits the existence of “quantum superposition,” a state of being which is unknowable and fundamentally altered upon observation. Queerness operates similarly–as it becomes increasingly visible and observable to the mainstream public, it is fundamentally altered as a social system and community. Architecture often participates in the visibility framework, seeking to uplift marginalized queerness through increasing its visibility to the mainstream, but in doing so it causes transmutational shifts within the queer community that go beyond architecture’s ability to predict or control.
This masterplan provides a vision for a minimally invasive and environmentally resilient new downtown district of Muscat where the Wadi meets the sea. Freshwater and saltwater ecologies entwine to form a waterfront promenade that activates the embassy district and extends a peninsula neighborhood into the bay. Diverse histories, geographies and futures form a new urban infrastructure for Oman.