A Topology of Thresholds

Abstract

This article explores the theoretical definitions of the “intérieur”, of the threshold and of the fold, from Athanasius Kircher, Johannes Zahn, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, to Charles Baudelaire, André Gide, and Walter Benjamin. It proceeds with an analysis of mirrors, windows, frames, and other specular devices that multiply the interior. This leads to a review of contemporary readings (and mis-readings) of the Heideggerian “Zweifalt,” or “double fold,” and introduces an exploration of the twain of “between” and to a discussion of current theories of the “Zwischenraum,” the “space in-between.” Lastly, through readings of Gilles Deleuze and Michel de Certeau, this article brings in the distinction between a sedentary law (to distribute according to rules) and a nomadic law (to spread in a aleatory manner on a limitless space), opening up to the promises of an ethical mode of inhabitation.