Illumination #4 - Poetics of Reverie and Space
Since last weeks discovering of the term psychogeography I have been reading some excerpts of writings by the fantastic French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, on the topics of space and home and the evocative nature of architecture and place.
In particular, two of Bachelards texts, The Poetics of Space and the Poetics of Reverie have relevance to my interests as urban explorer, flaneur, and "visual/photographer poet" - as someone once called me.
The Poetics of Space (French: La Poétique de l'Espace) is a 1958 book by Gaston Bachelard. Bachelard applies the method of phenomenology to architecture basing his analysis not on purported origins (as was the trend in enlightenment thinking about architecture) but on lived experience in architectural places and their contexts in nature. He focuses especially on the personal, emotional response to buildings both in life and in literary works, both in prose and in poetry. He is thus led to consider spatial types such as the attic, the cellar, drawers and the like.
I particularly liked this quote from the Poetics of Space, referencing one of my favourite poets, Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Rilke wrote: 'These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased.”
― The Poetics of Space
I have realized that when I am wandering the city, doing street photography, I am actually more interested in evocative spaces, buildings, stairs, roofs, abandoned and crumbling structures and the emotion evoked by these places, than I am in strictly capturing the people on the street and their interactions with the camera. Istanbul is an especially crowded city, and I am learning I am more interested in documenting the moments of cosmos, as opposed to chaos. In the Poetics of space, Bachelard speaks of the concept of 'home' and how the mind wants to make a home for itself anywhere, no matter how hostile the environment. In my specifically seeking out the liminal, more forgotten and neglected parts of Istanbul, and finding reveries and a nostalgic "home" feeling, I am doing just that. As someone who has spent half a decade now away from the place of my birth, perhaps this concept of home or a feeling of it, is crucial to me. Bachelard's book contains many quotes from Poets who seemed to understand this concept of solitude and poetic space well.
”Space that has been seized upon by the imagination cannot remain indifferent space subject to the measures and estimates of the surveyor. It has been lived in, not in its positivity, but with all the partiality of the imagination.”
-Bachelard
.the unlimited solitude that makes a lifetime of each day, toward a communion with the universe, in a word, space, the invisible space that man can live in nevertheless, and which surrounds him with countless presences.”
-Rilke
Furthering this interest in evocative spaces, Bachelard's The Poetics of Reverie is a book that speaks more specifically about the value of daydreaming and memory.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/24/the-poetics-of-reverie-gaston-bachelard/
...an exploration of “the remarkable psychic productivity of the imagination” and its relationship to memory, happiness, and our capacity for love, as well as of poetry’s singular ability to catalyze our sense of wonder.
Bachelards discusses the imaginative nature of poetry and argues that it allows us fuller access to our own conciousness and 'soul' , through reverie and a playful sort of daydreaming. Unlike a dream however he argues that a reverie must be written down or recorded to be remembered. When I am taking photos of these evocative places within Istanbul, I think of them in much the same way, as an abstract visual poem that I am "documenting" by noticing it and capturing it, literally, on film. I hope to evoke a sense of reverie and daydream in my photos. Bachelard writes of Vıctor Hugo going out into the twilight and remarking "The city was quieting down. Where was the city? All that was neither a city, nor a church, nor a river, nor color, nor light nor shadow: it was reverie."
Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley.
”
― Dime-Store Alchemy
In particular, two of Bachelards texts, The Poetics of Space and the Poetics of Reverie have relevance to my interests as urban explorer, flaneur, and "visual/photographer poet" - as someone once called me.
The Poetics of Space (French: La Poétique de l'Espace) is a 1958 book by Gaston Bachelard. Bachelard applies the method of phenomenology to architecture basing his analysis not on purported origins (as was the trend in enlightenment thinking about architecture) but on lived experience in architectural places and their contexts in nature. He focuses especially on the personal, emotional response to buildings both in life and in literary works, both in prose and in poetry. He is thus led to consider spatial types such as the attic, the cellar, drawers and the like.
I particularly liked this quote from the Poetics of Space, referencing one of my favourite poets, Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Rilke wrote: 'These trees are magnificent, but even more magnificent is the sublime and moving space between them, as though with their growth it too increased.”
― The Poetics of Space
I have realized that when I am wandering the city, doing street photography, I am actually more interested in evocative spaces, buildings, stairs, roofs, abandoned and crumbling structures and the emotion evoked by these places, than I am in strictly capturing the people on the street and their interactions with the camera. Istanbul is an especially crowded city, and I am learning I am more interested in documenting the moments of cosmos, as opposed to chaos. In the Poetics of space, Bachelard speaks of the concept of 'home' and how the mind wants to make a home for itself anywhere, no matter how hostile the environment. In my specifically seeking out the liminal, more forgotten and neglected parts of Istanbul, and finding reveries and a nostalgic "home" feeling, I am doing just that. As someone who has spent half a decade now away from the place of my birth, perhaps this concept of home or a feeling of it, is crucial to me. Bachelard's book contains many quotes from Poets who seemed to understand this concept of solitude and poetic space well.
”Space that has been seized upon by the imagination cannot remain indifferent space subject to the measures and estimates of the surveyor. It has been lived in, not in its positivity, but with all the partiality of the imagination.”
-Bachelard
.the unlimited solitude that makes a lifetime of each day, toward a communion with the universe, in a word, space, the invisible space that man can live in nevertheless, and which surrounds him with countless presences.”
-Rilke
Furthering this interest in evocative spaces, Bachelard's The Poetics of Reverie is a book that speaks more specifically about the value of daydreaming and memory.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/24/the-poetics-of-reverie-gaston-bachelard/
...an exploration of “the remarkable psychic productivity of the imagination” and its relationship to memory, happiness, and our capacity for love, as well as of poetry’s singular ability to catalyze our sense of wonder.
Bachelards discusses the imaginative nature of poetry and argues that it allows us fuller access to our own conciousness and 'soul' , through reverie and a playful sort of daydreaming. Unlike a dream however he argues that a reverie must be written down or recorded to be remembered. When I am taking photos of these evocative places within Istanbul, I think of them in much the same way, as an abstract visual poem that I am "documenting" by noticing it and capturing it, literally, on film. I hope to evoke a sense of reverie and daydream in my photos. Bachelard writes of Vıctor Hugo going out into the twilight and remarking "The city was quieting down. Where was the city? All that was neither a city, nor a church, nor a river, nor color, nor light nor shadow: it was reverie."
The cosmic reverie … is a phenomenon of solitude which has its roots in the soul of the dreamer. Cosmic reveries separate us from project reveries. They situate us in a world and not in a society. The cosmic reverie possesses a sort of stability or tranquility. It helps us escape time. It is a state. Let us get to the bottom of its essence: it is a state of mind… Poetry supplies us with documents for a phenomenology of the soul. The entire soul is presented in the poetic universe of the poet.
Poetry: three mismatched shoes at the entrance of a dark alley.
”
― Dime-Store Alchemy
https://ia801606.us.archive.org/1/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.139369/2015.139369.The-Poetics-Of-Space.pdf
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