"Heterotopia" is said to be a network of spatial relations. In order to explain what "heterotopia" is, Foucault first starts with what is an Utopia: Utopia is a place without real presence and real position. However, in all cultures or civilizations, there are some real and effective places that are not places, or Utopias that are effectively realized in real places, which Foucault calls "heterotopia". He gave an example: the image originally reflected in the mirror is an utopia, that is, a place without a place: when I look in the mirror, I see myself in the mirror, or I see myself in a place where I am not really present. I am in the mirror, in a non real space, like a ghost that enables me to see myself. This unreal space allows me to see myself in the place where I am not really present. This is the Utopia of the mirror.
But Foucault also thinks that it is also a "heterotopia", because the mirror is real after all. I in the mirror occupy a position in the mirror. It is because of the mirror, so that I can see myself in the mirror and find that I can appear where I am not really present. In the mirror, my eyes turn to me from the depth of the virtual space (the reason why this space is virtual is that the mirror is just a plane, in fact, the eyes in the mirror only observe me from this plane). In the mirror, I come to myself, I stare at myself again, and the eyes in the mirror may also reconstruct myself who is standing outside the mirror and looking at myself in the mirror.
I agree with Foucault that the mirror is indeed a heterotopian space. According to Foucault, mirror is a space that has no space (contre-emplacements). I stand in front of the mirror, but I see myself in the mirror (not real place). Although “me” in the mirror is not real, but it makes me really see myself. Secondly, in my real body, I can't see myself (face) directly, I can only “recreate” myself in the mirror(an virtual space).Therefore, the mirror(image) also bears the role of heterotopia.
Photograph by Allan Schaller
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