When considering “this thing called theory” from the point of view of Black Contemporary, a rural field station dedicated to the study of spatial phenomena and perception, one is confronted with a paradox that simultaneously encourages and resists our tendency to favour a fixed focal length, that of objective distance. This paper proposes theory as a material practice that opposes the objective distance typically associated with research. Black Contemporary serves as an experiential laboratory of such material practice for investigating, cultivating and expanding our knowledge specific to the study of atmosphere and place. This is achieved through immersive acts of thinking and making supported by a series of material insertions or stagings with a relative capacity to unite, react or interact with latent dimensions of the inherited landscape. Each staging is driven by nascent desire and possibility to intercourse with the existing material surrounds. Each is pursuant of a philosophical position of chiaroscuro that leverages perceptual notions and spatial valence within the material culture of a post-industrial site.