Concepts: Spaces
Occasionally, I will want to shed light on a particular subject or thought, but I won’t have- or won’t want to have- a clear intent or defined stance on it. These will be more like thoughts to share. Maybe they can prove valuable and serve as writing prompts or talking points or something to mull over. These entries I will head as “Concepts”. Enjoy!
I have to give a shout out to my friend Keesha for inspiring this post. Currently, I live in a city close to Taipei, Taiwan. The both of us live in a small apartment tucked away in a quiet neighborhood. There mostly seems to be people middle aged and up and we live near a small park and a kindergarten. As far as city noises go, this area is pretty quiet and we are somehow buffered from the busy hustle and bustle. But only a few blocks away is a main road and a busy night market. If you step into that area you are bombarded with the noises of cars, buses, and voices.
One night when my friend and I were walking around to explore , Keesha commented on how things could feel so different, or have such a different energy, as we walked through the streets; that even going up one block meant we entered a totally different space where things could be loud, lively and more populated . And it was a keen observation: it would be as if these places were sectioned off by invisible and soundproof barriers, block by block. Often you would have no real indications what the next space in the city would be like until you physically moved into it.
Immediately, my mind went to thinking of little square spaces or containers that we were constantly moving through. The imagery stuck with as we kept walking; filling up one space with ourselves and emptying ourselves from the previous one. We were changing perspective, inhabiting new locations, and witnessing new things one step at a time.
This is no riddle or secret I express. We so often think of space- the occupying of, of the distance between objects, and emptiness. It becomes our default, our habitual response, to take a space up or to make space for something.
That walk on that night had me imagine moving in and out of spaces, little square ones. And I did become aware of how different each street, each neighborhood, could be so different in atmosphere and tone, and how each caused a little change in my perception or thoughts. It reminded me of experiences I have had going out on motorcycle rides and suddenly having a sense of being in a new zone. In mere seconds and meters, I would be aware of a new energy, or new ambient noises, or smells, or even temperatures.
When we tell each other news or tell stories, where the events take place; how these spaces are filled are key information, but I think we can gloss over that factor. I am not convinced we readily delve any further into the aspect of space beyond it being a superficial factor. But when an area even a block away can be a vastly different space, there must be an infinite number of differences in all the infinite number of spaces we travel through each day. Space determines so much.
