Michael Taussig – The Magic Hour (23/3/10)

Michael Taussig examines the different ways of thinking about the times of day when the sun sets and the sun rises. He refers to these times as the Magic Hour and Twilight – mainly referring to the setting of the sun with these expressions. He defines the Magic Hour further as the time when “the night fuses with day”. Michael uses two main theories in his seminar. These are poststructuralist theory and visual anthropology. His presentation often interlinked thoughts and ideas regarding these framing devices, making it hard to define the theories utilized.

Taussig uses poststructuralist understandings to deconstruct the binaries associated with the Magic Hour, as well as the times in between when the fireflies light the sky. The most obvious binary in his seminar is that between night and day. He describes the ambiguity of the Magic Hour as neither day nor night as they fuse together in a single moment. A further binary Michael deconstructs is awake and asleep. He defines the moment between these states as “the threshold”. Taussig argues that we experience movement beyond this threshold twice a day, yet it is rarely spoken about as if it were a taboo subject. He furthers this argument, moving into anthropological and psychological views, stating that different people transcend the states of being asleep or awake. The concept of a good night’s sleep is not as widely accepted as we believe. He gives the example of some South American cultures constantly moving between the two states, where the sleep pattern is broken but not categorised as a bad night’s sleep. Another example would be insomnia. This condition, that cannot break the threshold between asleep and awake, is tortured by the concept of a good night’s sleep.

Taussig uses visual anthropology as a theory to further examine the Magic Hour. Michael employed projected photographs and visual art to accompany his seminar. The deconstruction of the night and day binary was enhanced by a picture of fireflies lighting up the sky during the Magic Hour. It added the discussion of the primacy of the sun as humanity’s homogenous light source. Taussig challenged the audience to think about fireflies as our light source in the absence of the sun. He describes this as heterogeneous and random. He also employs visual anthropology in a way to understand the image of the sun, particularly during the Magic Hour. He describes the differences in various cultures’ relationships to the image. Some groups clap when the sun sets. Other groups have a ‘Happy Hour’ at bars to compete with the sadness that comes with this time of day, when shadows lengthen. Religious beliefs often share stories and myths regarding the sun. Many groups see the sun as a metaphor of death. Taussig accompanied these different thoughts of the sun with images of the Magic Hour, as seen from different perspectives and geographical locations.