Excerpt from Ong, B. L. (2012). Ecology and the aesthetics of heat. In J.-P. Thibaud & D. Siret (Eds.), Ambiances 2012. Montreal: International Ambiances Network.
Homeostasis is so important, it is thought to be the key evolutionary advantage of human beings (Jablonski, 2006). The evidence is our naked skin, the most prominent visible difference between us and other animals. A naked skin is essential for us to maximize the effectiveness of evaporative cooling. The amount of heat used to evaporate sweat is more than 5 times that required to raise the temperature of the same amount of water from freezing to boiling. Bipedalism exposes more of our bodies to prevailing winds and increases evaporation even in still air. This excessive capability to cool down in turn enables the development of our large brains – the size of which requires a very efficient cooling system.
The major human developments that made human civilization possible and distinguished human society from animal communities – fire, food, clothing and buildings – are also instruments of thermal and energy balance. Food, clothing and buildings further distinguish human societies from one another. They not only protect us from the heat and cold of the weather, they are aesthetic expressions of who we are and how we are different from other groups of people.
Perhaps more than any other sense, heat imparts an emotional if not aesthetic overlay on perception. Colors can be hot, warm, cool or cold. Other senses like smell, sound, taste and touch are also often similarly described in adjectives of heat. The aesthetic enjoyment of food, in particular, is enhanced when consumed at the right temperature. Not only does food taste different at different temperatures, heat is critical in drawing out its appetizing smells. Music, dance, poetry and other art forms as well are viewed in terms of heat – tango is hot, jazz is cool, poetry warms the heart.
Consider the above painting by Rembrandt. On the one hand, we can describe its aesthetic in terms of light (Quiroga and Pedreira, 2011) :
« …the black background on the left hand side increases the contrast of the white/yellow color of the window, thus giving a formidable reinforcement to the brightness of the sunlight coming through. The high contrast used by Rembrandt drives the attention to the figure of the philosopher and the rest of the scene remains somehow in the dark. This produces an extraordinary effect in the painting, as the character in the bottom right appears to be relegated to a secondary role and the spiral stair seems to be leading to a mysterious dark room upstairs. »
Contrast this against a more thermal description (Hurll, 2006 (1899)):
« Our philosopher is well taken care of; for while his thoughts are on higher things and eternal truths, an old woman is busy at the fire in the corner. Evidently she looks after the material and temporal things of life. She kneels on the hearth and hangs a kettle over the cheerful blaze. The firelight glows on her face and gleams here and there on the brasses hanging in the chimneypiece above. Here is promise of something good to come, and when the philosopher is roused from his musings there will be a hot supper ready for him. »
Of the two, I suggest that the latter more strongly evokes the aesthetic ambiance conveyed by the painting. Let me elaborate. We have here two kinds of aesthetic analysis (and experience). The first is visual and analytical. It deconstructs the painting and hypothesizes on the formal aspects of the painting that make it beautiful. The second seeks to evoke an aesthetic empathy in the reader. This is achieved through describing the ambiance of the picture – the light from above imparts to the philosopher thoughts on « higher things and eternal truths », while the light of the hearth is of « the material and temporal things of life ». Throughout, there is the undercurrent and premise of heat – the food for the mind is counterbalanced against the food for the body. This aesthetic experience is what I mean when I suggest that the aesthetics of ambiance is in fact an ecological phenomenon best understood in terms of the heat. The power of Rembrandt’s painting comes into its own when we locate it within the argument presented here – that heat is the currency of ecology and that life is enacted through the dynamics of heat.
References: Hurll, E. M. 2006 (1899). Rembrandt : A Collection Of Fifteen Pictures and a Portrait of the Painter with Introduction and Interpretation, Project Gutenberg. Jablonski, N. G. 2006. Skin: A Natural History, Berkeley, CA ; London :, University of California Press.
Quiroga, R. Q. & Pedreira, C. 2011. How do we see art: an eye-?‐tracker study. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 5.
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