The Funambulist | No 57 The Night

This issue contests the idea that the lack of sunlight characterizing the Night, means that we “see” less in darkness than we do in broad daylight. In fact, the refraction of sunlight in the Earth’s atmosphere prevents us from seeing beyond this atmospheric layer, whereas the Night allows for a much broader vision of a multitude of celestial bodies in the Universe. Seeing the night sky decenters us at the scale of individuals, and even at the planetary level—something that the 1971 Attica rebels must have intensely experienced when they dedicated parts of their nights to gaze at the stars from the courtyard of their New York State prison, as described by Orisanmi Burton in Tip of the Spear.