Chiasmus and Sceneries for all senses: the hidden possible at Faaborg Museum

Based upon the bonds between architecture and phenomenology, this text aims to contribute to the debate about the space museum as a scenery to explore atmospheres to an embodied experienceboth of the specific space and of the works of art displayed. The arguments of Peter Zumthor, Steven Holl, JuhanniPallasmaa, Gernot Böhme and Merleau-Ponty emerge applied to discussing spatial decisions concerning the scope of phenomenology of interiors. The concept of chiasmus (Merleau-Ponty, Le Visible et l’Invisible) appears as an order of reality that invites the experience of all senses instead the concept of in-between (l’entre-deux: Merleau-Ponty, Phénoménologie de la Perception) which still includes duality. Chiasmus emphasizes that the being is enmeshed in the space, recalling, according to our interpretation, what Deleuze refers to with the terms milieu [middle/amidst/surroundings/medium] and devenir [becoming].
The result of our analyses will be a critical visual essay. The invitation and permission to explore the Faaborg Museum’s phenomenological potential within the theoretical framework abovementioned - and to pass between its past and presence - is based on a series of photographs by the architectural photographer Hélène Binet, with the themes: A Walk, the Furniture, Passages, Details and the Art.
Our choice of the critical visual essay intends to letthe visual elements of the essay form an integral part of our interpretations and readingsabout this specific interior design. The visual essay also allows to recollect and debate the concept of chiasmus in the context of the space museum. The discussion about the museum’s architectural elements that allow to explore atmospheres involves a process that in coalesce produce a compelling work where images, photographs, exhibited art and writings play an essential and important role in shaping an intellectual critical inquiry.