The dark mirror of the soul
Sometimes, a sight is so grand and overwhelming that it evokes in us a mixture of fear, rapture and awe. This aesthetic experience is known in art as the sublime. The term is often applied to a wild and untamed nature. A sublime nature in this sense features prominently in the Gothic tradition, not only as a setting for elusive mysteries or unspeakable secrets, but also as a protagonist in its own right. Romantic landscape paintings from the 19th century, for instance, frequently represent nature as a reflection of the artist’s soul. Dark forests or lofty mountains convey feelings of loneliness, yearning and dread.
“[…] this wildness of thought, and roughness of work; this look of mountain brotherhood between the cathedral and the Alp […].” — Art critic and author John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, 1851–53
Contemporary Goths often seek inspiration or refuge in nature too. Once again, however, nature is never simply a romantic image. According to the Gothic expert Catherine Spooner, contemporary Gothic imagery has a particular fascination for ‘negative space’ – places where something ought to be, but where there is nothing, or nothing any more. This Gothic image of nature as a dark and elusive locus of fear and desire could be more relevant than ever in our present era of climate change.
More Articles
Zó Posthuman (3): Monstrous humans and human monsters
Afgerukte ledematen, ontbindende lijken en afstotelijke monsters. Net als in het posthumanisme staat in gothic het lichaam centraal. Toevallig? Volgens curator Tomas van den Heuvel niet.
Identity and community
From the exposition: goth is a battleground for the great issues of identity, individual and community. Now, and already in the nineteenth century.
An invented past
From the exhibition: in the Gothic tradition, historyis exaggerated, twisted or straightforwardly invented. The past on which Goth is based is an intoxicating mixture of fantasy and reality.
Atmosphere over form
From the exhibition: The Goth tradition allows you to mix imagery, symbols and styles to your heart’s content. The result is an emphatic atmosphere, which stimulates the imagination and creates darkness. Goth isn’t a style in the traditional sense but a feeling.
The theatre of authenticity
From the exhibition: Goth eagerly pursues a sense of authenticity and is not afraid to evoke it artificially.
Dark technology
From the exhibition: new technologies help to visualize the dark sense of life in constantly changing ways, although it is frequently the shortcomings of such technology – scratches on the film or fading of the photograph – that give a ‘Gothic feel’ to an image.
The haunted city
From the exhibition: the threatening, impersonal and all-consuming metropolis shaped the Gothic imagination of this uncertain period. It is a form of the Gothic where fear of the future becomes entangled with the dread of the past.
Alternatieve stereotypes
From the exhibition: the Goth subculture experiments like no other with gender, sexuality and style, finding new meanings for old stereotypes through endless combinations.
