Amelia Jones’s essay “Meaning, Identity, Embodiment” discusses Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenological theory of perception as it applies to the discipline of Art History. Jones argues that the perception of an artwork intricately conflates the identities of maker, viewed object and interpreter (73). In this sense all three identities produce and project meaning.
In her exhibition essay Speaks Transparent State Sonia Lacey discusses the architectural trope of glass. In the rest of this essay I will trace how the use of glass in architecture, may serve as useful analogy for phenomenological perception.
Firstly, consider a person standing inside a building looking out through a glass wall. They have a sense of being the observer of life passing by outside. However this sense of being solely an observer is an illusion; they are also the subject of observation. While glass architecture may give the sense of sole observation, an individual is always a subject object duality.
Secondly, a glass surface reflects. An observer, whether inside or outside a glass surface, while looking through, may also see something of their own image reflected back on themselves. In this way a glass surface speaks of the conflation of subjectivity and objectivity.
Thirdly, while peering through glass, an observer may occasionally become aware of the surface itself. Modern architecture uses glass to create what appears to be a seamless inside/outside flow. Sonya Lacey comments however:
The ‘see-through-ness’ creates the illusion of uninterrupted and continuous space. Glass frees architecture from a finite reality producing a sense of weightlessness.
At the moment when an inadvertent reflection or a smear on the glass draws our attention to the pane itself illusion is revealed. Glass acts as if it is absence, pure space, but is in fact a barrier.
Jones, Amelia. "Meaning, Identity, Embodiment: The Uses of Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology in Art History." Art and Thought. Ed. Arnold, Dana and Margaret Iverson. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. 71-90. Print.
Sonya Lacey. “Speaks Transparent State.” Sonya Lacey. Blogspot, 20, Oct 2008. Web. 2 Mar. 2010
