Stefan Kristensen

The question of space in the philosophy of the late Merleau-Ponty is intimately tied to the one of time; in fact, space is defined in terms of the forms of movement. But the structure of this peculiar temporality is yet to be described in relation to the body schema. In this paper I argue that this structure has to do with the process of mourning. This is because the body-subject is the invisible ground of perception, and because the content of perception is always already lost in the act of reflection. The works of the artist Ana Mendieta allow for a better understanding of both what is at stake in Merleau-Ponty’s conception of phenomenal space and thus an understanding of the meaning of mourning as disruption of lived space