Life in Motion - An Introduction to the 'Art of our Existence'

King & James  (Photo: Paul Quest)

"The everyday has a certain strangeness that does not surface..." (de Certeau 116)

I woke up and I was in Hamilton.  My sense perceptions, of which I am a slave to, were already quick at work on my behalf interacting with the space around me.  The sights, the sounds, and the smells of the city- they came to me without any effort on my part.  I absorbed and consumed the fiber of my surroundings without any conscious involvement in the process.  
This doing is a type of passive thinking that can be described as unconscious reproduction which suggests we are constantly producing and interacting with our surroundings  in ways we do not realize. (Sheringham 127) It also suggests that we do not give ourselves enough recognition for our constant response to the world around us.  As Spinoza once said, "The ability to exist is power."  Certainly, every Hamiltonian can find their place in such a statement, as we influence our surroundings by our most microbe-like responses to them.
What is the connection then, between these seemingly insignificant functions of our everyday practices and the macro-cosmic space surrounding us?  This blog is based on Sheringham's theory that suggests our everyday practices define the spaces we live in.  If that is so, what are we doing to define Hamilton?  I'd like to propose that, "What needs factoring in if one is to apprehend the everyday is not something extra - aesthetic, subjective, or intellectual - added from the outside, but our lived experience of it, our participation and immersion in it." (Sheringham 127)  Defining a space requires our attentive engagement within it.  Walking the city, seeing sights, having conversations - these are all part of the process.  Here's to the first step...

de Certeau, Michel. "Walking the City." Studying Culture: A Critical Introduction. Ed. Mary O'Connor. Hamilton: Custom Publishing Solutions, 2010. 115-125. Print.


Sheringham, Michael.  "Projects of Attention" Everyday Life: Theories and Practices from Surrealism to the Present. Ed. Mary O'Connor. Hamilton: Custom Publishing Solutions, 2010.