The Aesthetics of Atmospheres (Ambiances, Atmospheres and Sensory Experiences of Spaces)

Interest in sensory atmospheres and architectural and urban ambiances has been growing for over 30 years. A key figure in this field is acclaimed German philosopher Gernot Böhme whose influential conception of what atmospheres are and how they function has been only partially available to the English-speaking public. This translation of key essays along with an original introduction charts the development of Gernot Böhme's philosophy of atmospheres and how it can be applied in various contexts such as scenography, commodity aesthetics, advertising, architecture, design, and art. The phenomenological analysis of atmospheres has proved very fruitful and its most important, and successful, application has been within aesthetics. The material background of this success may be seen in the ubiquitous aestheticization of our lifeworld, or from another perspective, of the staging of everything, every event and performance. The theory of atmospheres becoming an aesthetic theory thus reveals the theatrical, not to say manipulative, character of politics, commerce, of the event-society. But, taken as a positive theory of certain phenomena, it offers new perspectives on architecture, design, and art. It made the spatial and the experience of space and places a central subject and hence rehabilitated the ephemeral in the arts. Taking its numerous impacts in many fields together, it initiated a new humanism: the individual as a living person and his or her perspective are taken seriously, and this fosters the ongoing democratization of culture, in particular the possibility for everybody to participate in art and its works. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures Acknowledgements from the International Ambiances Network Foreword Introduction The aesthetic theory of atmospheres Applications of the concept of atmospheres Conclusion Notes PART I: Theory: aesthetics and aesthetical economy 1. Atmosphere as a fundamental concept of a new aesthetics Atmosphere A new aesthetics Benjamin’s aura The concept of atmosphere in the philosophy of Hermann Schmitz The thing and its ecstasies The making of atmospheres Conclusion Notes 2. Atmosphere as an aesthetic concept Between Spatiality and presence Performance and event Staging Construction and criticism 3. The art of the stage set as a paradigm for an aesthetics of atmospheres Making atmospheres Atmosphere – a familiar yet extremely vague phenomenon Reception aesthetics and production aesthetics Phantastike techne Conclusion Notes 4. Kant’s aesthetics: a new perspective Kant’s negative aesthetics Beautiful form: Kant’s examples Communicability and sociability Education Conclusion Notes 5. On beauty The riddle of beauty The classical answers New experiences New needs Notes 6. On synesthesia Of an incidental nature? Goethe What is perception? The production of atmospheres in architecture Notes 7. Contribution to the critique of the aesthetic economy Introduction Reconstruction of critical theory Shifting the fronts of critique Notes PART II: Aesthetics of nature and art 8. Aesthetic knowledge of nature The new aesthetics Nature Aesthetic knowledge of nature Communication in nature The ecstatics of nature The cipher of nature Notes 9. Nature in the age of its technical reproducibility Introduction Hubris? Nature and technology Nature and art The nature that we are Conclusion Notes 10. Body, nature, and art Body and nature Body: the nature that we are ourselves The closed and the open body Bodily being in the world The body felt Being a body – a task for art? Notes 11. Nature as a subject A comeback of nature Nature: a problem of art Nature: a problem for art Notes PART III: Architecture 12. The atmosphere of a city Odors As matters stand The concept of atmosphere Generators of atmosphere Conclusion Notes 13. Atmosphere as the subject matter of architecture The difficulty of talking about architecture The perception of architecture Architecture and space Conclusion: architecture or stage design? Notes 14. Staged materiality Two bookshops Material and materiality The manifestation of materiality The iconology of materials Sensing material Note 15. Architecture: a visual art?: On the relationship between modern architecture and photography A natural alliance? Criticism Space, the scenic, and photography Notes 16. Metaphors in architecture – a metaphor? Architecture as language What are metaphors? Metaphors in architecture Conclusion Notes PART IV: Light and sound 17. Acoustic atmospheres Introduction The state of the aesthetics of atmospheres The aesthetic conquest of acoustic space Acoustic atmospheres Conclusion Notes 18. Music and architecture The trivial connections The center: the space Atmospheres Notes 19. The great concert of the world Introduction The art of modernism and the aesthetics of atmospheres The aesthetic conquest of acoustic space Music and soundscape, music of the soundscape Acoustic atmospheres Conclusion Notes 20. Seeing light Is light invisible? Light rays, luminous bodies Sources of light Pure light phenomena Lightness Illuminations Dealing with light Notes 21.The phenomenology of light Cleared space Light space Lights in space Light and things Notes Bibliography Index Gernot Böhme ; Edited By Jean-paul Thibaud. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.