Space is a living embodiment. It hosts our body and the environment, constantly changing, always dynamic and never static. The assumption that space is a permanent entity and that our presence do little to affect space needs to be re-evaluated. Space has to be perceived as more than an image. Space needs to be a mediator that enables us to relate to our environment through new lens of perception and engages our body with the world in a tangible manner.
Such phenomena requires a process of renewing and cleansing of the mind, body and perception. It is like that of bathing. The space that facilitates bathing therefore becomes a space of transition and of change and has the potential for self-actualization.It is a space between the before and after.
Apart from nature’s science, our body is a necessary element in the equation to make sense of space. The act of disrobing is likened to peeling off layers between the body and space, making the body more receptive to the experience of place through the skin. In the process of bathing, the body leaves behind traces of its presence; wet footprints on dry floor, handprints on walls and a breath of vapour on the mirror. Ephemeral as they may be, the traces are visible and tangible, informing us of the causality of our being in the space.
As we immerse ourselves deeper in bathing, we will begin to identify how the body affects and relates differently to the environment and the self. The first encounter with the water often evokes the body to taste, see, hear and feel our surrounds; and the journey continues to choreograph the relationship between the space and the body, triggering the synaesthetic senses at varying intensities. Taking the advantage of the physics of water and light, the imbathing experience creates a sequential narrative that informs us of our altered state of consciousness and making known to us the dynamic relationship that exists between our body and space.