Spatial Dimension of Embodied Experiences
What I will write on this essay may seem a little dispersed. I hope I can do it without much scatter. I have always been interested in contemporary philosophy and therefore I was familiar with the concept of the phenomenological perspective, but it made me realize that I did not know anything about its application in the social sciences. I am happy that the possibility has appear to base my knowledge on a method. In order to explain “things” it is useful to abstract them from the meaning additions to which they are interbedded. I will read more about this.
I remember that I quietly whisper to myself as “what a waste of energy and time” when someone mentioned about the Kula Ring case in the first time for me. When I looked from the world of meaning I was a part of, I underestimated their compeller efforts for worthless objects (seashells, etc.). However, when I look now, the metaphysical essence that I see in the sources of our own values is actually not that different from that of the Kula People. I accept that it is not easy to avoid being confident while interpreting the world when the own perception of reality is there.
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It is an interesting subject that the space is meaningful with the human body; and the body is limited by the space. I was been horrified with the feeling of loneliness that catch me when I first came across the SketchUp software starting interface. I experienced the immense emptiness while navigating around the human model (it was there to give an idea of the human scale) standing still at the origin point where the coordination axes representing the three-dimensional plane converge. After drawing the first line, a sense of trust emerges. I could see that the “sense of space” is also produced among the rising structures.
On the other hand, an experiment to represent the space by drawing lines on the floor of a large hangar in the Lars von Trier’s 2003 movie Dogville[1] showed us gently that what we call the “sense of space” is not construct by only buildings. With the acts of specific characters, the space appears only when summoned and remains outside of our attention similar to what we experience in real life at other times representatively (representatively, because it cannot be seen or touched) throughout the stories. The idea of a space not dependent on physical references is quite interesting.
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I had an opportunity to observe the spatial solutions of military intelligence (by men, in the context of masculinity and for men) while being in Izmir for compulsory service in 2019, and I was obviously interested in this framework. There was such a dominant distribution of open spaces between the buildings that you couldn’t get rid of the feeling of anxiety when you move between the two of them. I have amazed everyday how a two-storied building -with a dining hall on the ground floor and social facilities on the upper floor- fits into the topography. Function was completely at the forefront. A front open area where the soldiers gathered in rows and prayed for dinner was connected to the building with aesthetic landscape elements. Both the front and rear entrances designated for the entrance to the building made it possible to be easily get surveillance from the main square. It was clear that the entrances were placed in the exact way to allow controlled access. Pure geometry, clear quadrilaterals and circles, boring columns that repeat each other symmetrically, etc. But somehow, the contrast created with the natural elements around was consistent every square centimeter. Despite being located on rough terrain, the level connecting the ceremony area to the square was perfectly (and of course artificially) flat. One side of the building where the dormitories were located was facing the ceremony area and the other facing the square. If you were near the window, it was impossible for you not to be noticed by someone passing through the ceremony area, even while you were sleeping. Lime whitewash, light blue plastic paint, wood color on the stair rails and graying as far as the eye can see. I can continue to describe it, but I think I conveyed the main idea. Although I constantly remind myself the fact that the design of the space was so successful in creating the intended emotional and behavioral manipulation, it was very effective in making me obey commands that seemed funny at first. Faced with this frightening reality, I realized that the interplay of the space issue with the body is more important than I thought.
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From here, I would like to return to the title of “representation of space” from the trio concept we discussed with reference to Henri Lefebvre[2] in the previous weeks. I have some observations to share how even the tools used to represent space can fundamentally change the production of space.
During my military training, I received a Turkish translation of Richard Sennett’s The Craftsman[3] (Zanaatkâr). It was a book focused on the history of the interaction between hand and head in general and taking a photograph of the present in this context. There was a chapter in the book on the possible effects of computer-aided drafting (CAD) as a preliminary preparation for space production. I remember two details from this episode that related my discussion for today. The first was, to use this technique allows to produce overly detailed designs which can suppress the flexibility of spaces that can create unexpected possibilities; and the second one was, since it will pro-duce unforeseen erroneous results if drawn on paper, it has made it possible to make mega projects that cannot be conceived. We were advised to work manually on hardcopy sheets instead of computer software while working on spatial plans as undergraduates in the department of Urban Planning at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. When we declared that we found this method outdated and criticized it, they stated that the concept of scale cannot be grasped on the computer screen; they claimed that they were aware that this method was not practical and perfect, but they stated that they insisted on proceeding in this way until they established the concept of scale.
So where has this whole discussion of methods and tools brought us? When I first saw Zorlu Shopping Mall, I felt that I was in a SketchUp render that was not been paid much attention to whether it would actually be implemented or not. I think it is a great example of the similarity between “space production technique” and “manufactured spaces”. I suspect that this points to a new form of relationship, just as you determined that Zoom in distance education imposes a new regime of behavior on us. A topic worth thinking about. I remember the difference between people interacting with each other at metro stations and trains and at bus stops and vehicles in the early 2000s, when subways were just beginning to become widespread. In subways, people were spoken in a quieter voice and the proportionality of physical performance was observed.
I guess we can assume that our understanding of space is based on a pool of experience based on bodily interactions. It’s a feeling similar to what we experience when we see a Starbucks in a city we haven’t been before.
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[1] Trier, Lars von (2003) Dogville (a motion picture), Zentropa Entertainments, https://www.golem.es/dogville/
[2] Lefebvre, Henri (1991). The Production of Space, Translated by: Nicholson-Smith, D. (Vol. 142). Blackwell: Oxford.
[3] Sennett, Richard (2009) Zanaatkâr (The Craftsman), Çeviren: Melih Pakdemir, Ayrıntı Yayınları, İstanbul
