A Light for the Mind
Among the conditions of life that are common to us all–both around the world, and through the ages–few have threaded themselves so deeply into our cultural development as the experience of light and dark.
Our friends in the UK might have heard the fascinating episode “Light and Dark”on BBC Radio 4’s program “Thinking Allowed.” Host Laurie Taylor speaks with Tim Edensor, Reader in Cultural Geography at Manchester Metropolitan University, about the interplay of biology and culture in our experience of light.
“…We must also remember that we also make sense of the world through a whole array of different cultural associations so we understand darkness, we understand light, we understand the effects of cloud, we understand the beauty that is brought forth by light through a whole series of, kind of, cultural conventions that are grounded in historical thought, and these are never universal, but vary through space and time.”
–TIM EDENSOR
Robert Shaw, Lecturer in Geography at Newcastle University, also joins Taylor and Edensor to provide insight on topics including “the nocturnal economy” and how the introduction of gas lighting to the city of Berlin mesmerized and affected its residents.
Not to worry if you missed the original broadcast. Listen to the episode Light and Dark at your convenience, from anywhere in the world online.
This text was organized in the spirit of our “Summer Lights” programming, which includes
“FOCUS: Yves Klein | James Turrell”, “Neon in Daylight: François Morellet”,
“Depth Perception: James Turrell”, and “Johannes Girardoni: Sensing Singularity”