Space itself
Creation of space without walls
Books were written on investigation of concepts of space, how important it is in human development, meaning physical space. Often however we neglect, underestimate the value of space, which is not just associated with physical borders and is being created by imaginary permeable boundaries.
Some people refer to the concept of such space without walls when they talk about “invisible architecture”.
Rituals and space
One example of such space I observed in India while traveling near Ganges river. There are many temples, which are constructed near that river, which are world heritage, yet if you walk a bit away from main temples, further from main centers and ashrams, you can often find people doing rituals on their own. Once, while walking near that powerful river, I saw a group of 3 people who were doing the ritual around a square, drawn on the road and in the center of it there was a small Hindu statue. I stopped nearby and observed. People were doing the Arti (Sanskrit: Ārātrika, Hindi: Ārtī) ritual of evening, which is traditional ritual in Hindu culture. They were entering the square from one side, doing prayers, then putting fire in the center of the space and water from the Ganga river on both sides from the Hindu statue. Then leaving that space. The whole ritual took maybe 1 hour or maybe less (video), after the ritual people left the space.
If to abstract ourselves from the ritual itself, what was actually happening, was creation of a new space. The imaginary space was created, no walls, nothing was needed for this space to exist. For other people from outside to be able to enter that space, you would need to follow the rules and to accept the borders of that space.
Several factors together facilitate of creation of space to exist during the ritual: dedication to the ritual and space (entangled nature between ritual and space itself), which separates and creates invisible boundaries, attention to time and space, which creates and fills up the space itself with a content.
Space and time
For some people a person her-him-self can be a space. Sometimes even a memory can be a space. Even time can become a space.
Multiplicity of spaces and ways to express space help humans to express themselves, to heal themselves. Just looking at how artists are working with the notion of space, play and create it for us. Just by drawing a line, as in the case of Hindu temple on the Ganges river can create a space, what then the multiple lines can create?
