Matter presences : the sensitive consequences of the mechanisation of the raw material

Abstract

Heir from a culture marked by modern dualism, man seems to find himself, abstract from his environment. As a consequence, a large number of human creations today is considered by some authors as uprooted. Built with earth, vegetal fibers, stone, etc., vernacular architectures appear as an extension of nature, its colors, its materials, its forms and its textures. Most of the contemporary architecture examples, on the contrary, seems to have lost this link with the territory, the natural cycles and the human know how. Could the use of raw materials and the promotion of touch (and a more direct relationship to the world) be allies to create architectural spaces that reaffirm a better link with the body and reboot a genius of the site? This article questions the transformation of raw materials into building materials. Referring to the work of art in its mechanized reproduction, Walter Benjamin refers to the loss of aura. This concept is reinforced by the notion of the sacred developed by the anthropologist Michael Taussig who, when speaking of synthetic color, refers to the loss of the body of color. The passage by these two thinkers raises some questions to reflect on our sensible relations to the non-human in order to stop this relation of exploitation towards matter. To conclude, the paper presents a tactile experience entitled "Material Presences", developed within the framework of a creation research. This experience proposes to reflect on the presence of materials and the notion of aura: What does wood matter transmit to us according to its type of transformation? Does this transformation process change our sensory relationship to this material? Can we say that some have lost their aura?