Abstract

Starting from the observation that there are two different kinds of experiencing a thing – grasping and using it or keeping distance and contemplating it – this essay inquires into the enablement of this difference in experience. Referring to Georg Simmel's essay »Der Henkel« the special character of the handle of a vessel is examined in order to clarify the nature of the difference between things to grasp and things to contemplate. The argument is that this difference in experiencing a thing is enabled by the spatiality of things and references to them. Therefore the example of the handles of a Japanese Iga-vase is taken to demonstrate how the particular spatiality of a thing determines the reference to it. Thus the difference in the ways of experiencing a thing results from a difference in the experience of space.