Atmospheres, inside and out

摘要

The theme of atmospheres within philosophy, aesthetics, and critical theory has developed steadily over the last two decades. Inspired in part by the philosophies of Gernot Bohme and Hermann Schmitz, the area of research has become a focal point for studies on the intersection between materiality and affectivity, embodiment and culture, and perception and sense. We are now at a point in this "atmospheric turn" where networks devoted to the topic are appearing alongside a prolific emergence of publications concerned with the manifold dimensions of atmospheres. Yet despite-or because-of its prevalence, the idea of atmosphere remains decidedly elusive. An atmosphere, as philosopher Tonino Griffero, tells us in his systematic study of the concept, is both everywhere and nowhere. Moreover, an atmosphere has a peculiar quality of being that which is often overpoweringly "in the air" (to use a phrase that will return time and again in what Griffero calls atmospherology) whilst at the same time resisting rigid analysis.