81Indoor darkness need not necessarily signify deficient
illumination, but may instead create its own experiential
quality. Already in twilight, rooms often acquire a mysterious,
crepuscular, floating character that can seem either disquiet-
ing or containing. The darker a room is, the more strongly it
opens itself up to other levels of > sensory perception, for ex-
ample, hearing, the sense of smell, or haptic sensitivity. When
spatial boundaries become diffuse and dissolve in the dark-
ness, our own location in space becomes indistinct. On the
other hand, our perceptions of our own bodies within space
are heightened in very dark rooms. In darkness, we experi-
ence the expansion of our > personal space yet feel ourselves
centred more strongly within our bodies.
An extremely dark room has its own density and indefin-
able > depth, which does not correspond to its actual exten-
sion when fully lit. In normal lighting, space – the emptiness
between objects – is not perceptible in itself. In the absence
of light, on the other hand, the space seems to be filled with
darkness. We have the feeling that it touches and wraps or
enshrouds us, and at times feel infused by it. In darkness, the
distinction between inside and outside is attenuated.
The density and impenetrability of darkness causes us
to move more slowly and tentatively in an unlit room. We
find it difficult to anticipate the intervals between objects;
depending upon the acclimatization of vision, they emerge
from the darkness gradually. As a consequence, glimpses
of individual weakly illuminated objects or small, light
openings are enhanced in importance. Things remain
embedded in darkness; at times only indistinctly recog-
nizable or even enigmatic, they draw us towards them.
The meagre light cast on their surfaces seems somehow pre-
cious. Such effects are exploited in particular in the interiors
of churches and cult spaces in order to produce atmospheres
of holiness.
In extreme cases, the deep blackness of large darkened
rooms is capable of generating a pull that threatens to swal-