239ments establish specific relationships of hierarchy between lis-
teners or spectators on one side, and speaker podiums, stages
and projection screens on the other. The audience sits in rows
that are oriented exclusively towards the stage, thereby sub-
jected to a pronounced > directionality. Through their align-
ments, certain seating arrangements, for example those of
choir stalls or of the British House of Commons, generate
fundamentally different postures or attitudes, i.e. of facing
each other, or opposition. Regarded historically, a seated pos-
ture was considered a privileged one. At an official ceremony,
a dignitary sits on a special chair, a throne, which clarifies
his or her status. A subaltern, in contrast, stands or kneels in
front of the seated dignitary.
- A recumbent posture involves resting in a reclining po-
sition with all of one’s weight in one place and on the surface:
a town, a lake or a parcel of land are said to ‘lie’ at a specific
location. For human beings, reclining is the most pronounced
form of immobility, and at the same time the most comfort-
able and stable posture, one that allows all of our muscles to
be fully relaxed. It is a preferred position of rest for sleeping,
resting, reflecting, convalescing, and finally for burial after
death.
The individual who reclines withdraws into himself,
experiencing a singular sense of introversion in this posture.
When reclining, one’s > personal space has a different exten-
sion compared to other postures. The visual field is different
as well. When we lie on our backs, our architectural counter-
part suddenly becomes the ceiling or the sky, which otherwise
received little attention. Both the accessibility of objects and
the physical effort necessary to obtain them are altered, and
our thoughts become remote from our actual surroundings
as well – the world grows smaller. An individual who lies in
bed ‘exists in a space that differs from that of someone who
moves in an upright posture.’ (Bollnow 1963, 173)
When reclining, our bodies feel the floor or other support
directly; we become conscious of our entire physical weight,