The Contemporary Blue Hour

(7.9.2022) There is a supermarket on the other side of the street. They have a sign on the roof, and normally it had been a colorful sign, illuminating the whole night, my night, thus making it more colorful (along with other signs of other firms or restaurants).
The sign is still there. But now I am observing that they put out the light at night (and, as it seems, during the weekend, but this has yet to be confirmed). In other words: We are observing the unbuilding, not of signs, but of sign colorfulness, that, historically, had been a signum of our modern age. Historically we are witnessing an unbuilding of things that had been so familiar that one had hardly noticed them anymore to be there. And this seems to be the signum of our days: the unbuilding as well as the rediscovery of things such as dusk and dawn and night (yes, they are not very colorful by nature). The sign on the roof is now saying, as far as it still can be seen, but it certainly can be at dusk and dawn – it is saying that it, respectively they are saving energy now (and why only now?).

And maybe, this winter, we will witness other phenomena that, until recently we had known, perhaps, only from novels: but Italy, in September of 2003, had seen the lights going out in the early morning, respectively at dawn, which means: in the blue hour. Newspapers have reprinted the photograph by Gregorio Borgia / AP recently (which I take the liberty of reproducing here). It had been an early Sunday morning, and the photograph, beautifully, is combining some rather old institutions: the Catholic Church, but even older: the rhythm of day and night, with the day dawning – not necessarily, as can be seen, with light, colorful lights on. Sightseeing, here, meant, to watch the lights, at dawn, going out, and stay out, due to lack of energy. The result not being only black, but also blue (and grey).
Electric light had replaced gaslight in the late 19th century, and with it the perception of dusk and dawn had changed completely. For gaslight one may consult Edgar Allan Poe: the narrator of his The Man of the Crowd experiences dusk, night and dawn while stalking a mysterious man through the streets of London, a man which he, the narrator, is not able ›to read‹.
For electricity and other phenomena one may consult the Ulysses by James Joyce. Here a writer is stalking his hero from dawn to dusk and beyond (not necessarily making him more readable, but rather raising the question, if man can be read at all, despite of all the virtuosity of language). One chapter of the Ulysses is completely dedicated not only to the colors of grey and blue, but to the blue hour: it is the Nausikaa-chapter (which also has fireworks, illuminating the evening and upcoming night).
But since we are speaking of the contemporary blue hour, we also have to consult contemporary literature, and, in this case, science fiction: the Trisolaris trilogy by Liu Cixin offers the vision of an unstable age, with morning coming up, but not necessarily with a sun.
We will keep that in mind. In case we will experience morning coming up, this winter, without the lights ›coming up‹, respectively: going on, we will have in mind that it still could be worse. But the signum of the current blue hour is uncertainty. We will have to make the best of it. With books perhaps, as far as we have enough light to read, but also with keeping our eyes open: we are witnessing unseen things. At least let’s look at them, even if it is, historically speaking, only unbuilding, what we see.
Our local energy supplier has an ad campaign (see photo below), which has the slogan of »Lichtaufgehen« (›light coming up‹). The face of a young woman, the smile of a young woman is underscoring the message. Historically speaking, we have seen an age of colorfulness at dusk and dawn, with artificial light and natural light mixing. In case we will loose the colorfulness (or some of it), we will, perhaps, win something else instead. May the signum of the coming winter be: historical insight due to observing, combined with thinking.

(Photo: DS)

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