vision and illusion
 |
 |
|
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
 |
|
 |
||
The artistic vision I am attempting to portray through this work is vision and illusion. This concept is a viewing operation that requires an understanding of the rules of viewing and then moving away from the surface towards the draw of the illusion.
The work is displayed as a video performance in an optometrist’s room during an eye examination. The white eye chart, with its marks and symbols, is subject to sensual and optical principles dictated by the cognitive brain that then translates the image. In fact the very make up of the eye, its physiology, its sensitivity, the mechanisms that govern its functions, along with the external effects of light, all combine in the compilation of the image. Vision, and proximity from the eye, is what determines the size of the image while the object’s actual dimensions remain unchanged.
In the meantime there is the expected conversation
between the optometrist and myself (right, left, up, down). These responses might be right or wrong based on my vision. When coupled with my often mistaken responses, the fuzzy and unclear image incites the viewer, seated in front of the screen and subjected to the same elements, to lean in and try to make out the symbols in the eye chart. All this makes the viewer restless, and creates the impression of an illusion after the first look.
Here the viewer becomes unable to concentrate as vision turns into illusion. The image stops belonging to reality, and the main subject disappears from the picture. The powers of imagination then reassemble the image and transform the once solid shapes into moving curves of changing dimensions.
What lures the viewer to this work is the contrast it draws between vision and illusion- image and meaning. An illusion often heightens the senses and leads the consciousness to question the eye
The work is displayed as a video performance in an optometrist’s room during an eye examination. The white eye chart, with its marks and symbols, is subject to sensual and optical principles dictated by the cognitive brain that then translates the image. In fact the very make up of the eye, its physiology, its sensitivity, the mechanisms that govern its functions, along with the external effects of light, all combine in the compilation of the image. Vision, and proximity from the eye, is what determines the size of the image while the object’s actual dimensions remain unchanged.
In the meantime there is the expected conversation
between the optometrist and myself (right, left, up, down). These responses might be right or wrong based on my vision. When coupled with my often mistaken responses, the fuzzy and unclear image incites the viewer, seated in front of the screen and subjected to the same elements, to lean in and try to make out the symbols in the eye chart. All this makes the viewer restless, and creates the impression of an illusion after the first look.
Here the viewer becomes unable to concentrate as vision turns into illusion. The image stops belonging to reality, and the main subject disappears from the picture. The powers of imagination then reassemble the image and transform the once solid shapes into moving curves of changing dimensions.
What lures the viewer to this work is the contrast it draws between vision and illusion- image and meaning. An illusion often heightens the senses and leads the consciousness to question the eye
and the mind.
The room was designed so that the external lighting would affect the viewer’s eye as he entered (the pupil dilates and constricts depending on the amount of light available). This leads to a temporary blindness as he enters the dark, narrow hallway, causing the viewer to move his hands in an
attempt to avoid walking into any object and mimicking the behavior of a blind person. The viewer is walking towards an area of light through which he can see a mirror reflecting a movie screen, and naturally positions himself to get the best angle for viewing the complete picture of the movie playing on the mirror. On the way out, the viewer experiences the same dilation of the pupil as he is walking out so that things become clearer for him. This is why the room was set up in this particular way: in order to complete the conveyance of this very idea.
The taping of the video took place in the opposite way to its presentation. The image in the video is actually a reflection on a mirror hung on the wall of an optometrist room as he was performing an eye examination. This reflected image was then displayed on a mirror and so it came out the right way.
attempt to avoid walking into any object and mimicking the behavior of a blind person. The viewer is walking towards an area of light through which he can see a mirror reflecting a movie screen, and naturally positions himself to get the best angle for viewing the complete picture of the movie playing on the mirror. On the way out, the viewer experiences the same dilation of the pupil as he is walking out so that things become clearer for him. This is why the room was set up in this particular way: in order to complete the conveyance of this very idea.
The taping of the video took place in the opposite way to its presentation. The image in the video is actually a reflection on a mirror hung on the wall of an optometrist room as he was performing an eye examination. This reflected image was then displayed on a mirror and so it came out the right way.