Reflection on space through Vermeer: Where is The Geographer?
There are multiple ways of thinking about space and coming up with one coherent framework, as to somehow explain this multiplicity, seems like an impossible task. However, working with artistic imaginaries can provide a fascinating insight on how space is produced and how it tends to acquire certain characteristic. In this post I analyse how The Geographer and The Astronomer of Johannes Vermeer suggest an intriguing prism for looking at the production of space and how this prism can be applied to the study of violent spaces.
A young thoughtful man is placed by the window in the obscure room. The light from the window is filling the space of his chamber, emphasising on the key role of the sphere (on the left), or the map (on the right) in the composition of the painting. The young man is immrsed in his work, it is evident from his body posture and his face expression. At the moment he is not here: his body is in the room, but his mind is somewhere else, with the stars, or with the far away lands. The map and the globe, in this case, represent a portal, which allows the young scientist to escape the captivity of his chamber, and even of his body. He departs on a journey through thousands of kilometres without leaving his home.
The Geographer on the painting is captured in the creative process. It is hard to say whether he is creating a map or planning a journey, but it is evident that he is involved into the process of conceptualisation of space. He is absorbed in his thinking process, becoming completely detached from the reality of his room, and bringing himself into the cartographic reality of the space represented on the map. We don’t see this cartographic space on the painting, but we feel its presence. The power of the image makes the co-existance of the two relities on the picture apparent.
The most curious thing about this painting is the interplay of these two spaces. Which one of the two is primal: the space of the room or the imaginative space of the Geographer’s thinking process. The physical space of the room, as well as the streets of the cities, where the Geographer lives, and the spaces beyond, encapsulate him providing the context of his creative process. Without the existance of this space, the Geographer wouldn’t exist either: for reflecting on space one must experience this very space. At the same time, the Geographer is conceptualising the space including the space of his room, of his street, and of his country as well. In this context, the space is not an objectively given empty environment, which is filled with nature, people and urban elements, but rather a result of his thinking process. This way we can contemplate space as a social product. The space around the Geographer is reflecting the space where he is presenting with his thoughts: messy fabrics, rolls of paper, a globe behind him, — in all these we can see a reflection of his inner space. It is astonishing how the physical space is encapsulating the metaphysical space of Geographer’s speculations, while this metaphysical space is participating in production and theorisation of the tangible space around.
So, where is the Geographer then? Simple answer would be just to point at the figure on the painting, but it would be the same as when a kid is pointing at his reflection in the mirror and proclaims: “Here I am!”. Is it him in the mirror? It is. Is he really trapped in the mirror? No. The Geographer is in his chamber, which is the product of his metaphysical space. The Geographer is creating the space of his encapsulation, so it creates a space for his metaphysical space. This interplay of realities gives impetus to the creation of a recursive space: the Geographer in the room is reflecting on the space, where the Geographer in the room is reflecting on the space, where the Geographer in the room is reflecting on the space, etc. This recursion makes it impossible for some sort of primal space to exist at all: the space around us is a product of our perception of it, as well as socially constructed phenomena. The Geographer on the painting is trapped into the recursive space of the interplay between his physical and metaphysical relaities.
The Astronomer is reflecting on the space that lies outside of his vital limits. His body posture and the turn of the head gives us a hint that his thoughts are far from the space of his room. We can almost feel the immense scale of the space that he is reflecting on, and contemplate how tiny the space of his room is in comparison with the colossal outer space. Unlike the Geographer, the Astronomer does not mentally create the space of his physical encapsulation. At the same time, just as in the case of the Geographer, the tangible space of his room coats the metaphysical space of the Astronomer’s reflection on space, though he doesn’t really belong to this reality of the outer space. The Astronomer is inside the metaphysical space of astronomy, he is creating this space, and, at the same time, we feel his alienation from this space. Geographer is creating the space where he resides, which unites the two realities in the infinite recursion.
The space around us is nothing more and nothing less than what we think about it due to the social processes and social practices associated with it. Space is socially constructed. Violence and fear create spaces of hostilities, which invade our metaphysical realities. Peaceful landscapes and friendly social practices attribute for the fear-less and violent-less spaces, that place us in the recursion of harmonious realities.
