Dialogue and Universalism

Volume 24, Issue 4, 2014

Technics, Meditation, Atmospheres, The Main Areas of Gernot Böhme's Philosophy

Light and Space. On the Phenomenology of Light

As its subtitle suggests, the essay is a phenomenological account of the diverse ways in which light can be experienced by the senses. Gernot Böhme divides these experiences into two types depending on whether they concern the relation between light and space (the categories “light-cleared space,” “lightspace,” “lights in space”) or between light and objects (“things in light,” “light upon things”). Böhme sees the synthesis of both these types of experiences in the illumination phenomenon, in which spatial/light effects and the way in which objects are illuminated combine to create a specific atmos-phere during the sensual, bodily experiencing of space. Böhme also discusses the applications of light effects in contemporary architecture and art.