We move through spaces every day without thinking much about them: a house, a hallway, a room. Yet some places stay with us, while others feel strangely empty or unsettling, even when nothing is visibly wrong. There are spaces that seem to carry something, and others that seem to resist being held onto.

This evening lingers on that experience: on the feeling that spaces are not neutral, that they can absorb traces of memory, or reflect something back to us. When we enter them, we are not empty either. We bring something with us, and at times, it begins to appear in the space itself.

Scenes from A Ghost Story by David Lowery, Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, and the recent Backrooms by Kane Parsons will punctuate the evening, illustrating the ideas as they unfold and grounding the discussion in shared images.

You will be invited to share your own experience of places that stayed with you, or that felt difficult to understand. We will also reflect on McGowan House, a place that has hosted many gatherings over the years, and consider how certain spaces seem to hold traces of what has happened within them.