The violence of space

Abstract

The main goal of this paper is to analyze how “space happens to us” in the “unstable equilibrium” between the need to assert for oneself and the necessity to belong to a surrounding world. We will argue that when such an equilibrium is disturbed, “space can become violent.” We will take a phenomenological approach in our work, trying to intertwin E. Minkowski and M. Merleau-Ponty’s insights on “lived space” with Bruce Bégout’s concept of “ambiance.”