A collection of Izabelle’s writings on various ideas, artists and exhibitions.
Jon Rafman
Firstly one is presented with an amalgamation of visual and pictorial stimulation, contradictions in texture, colour and noise. I found that once I situated myself in the noise and perceived discordance, the feeling of being encaspuated within this vortex, as perhaps a cell within a working system floating upon the next visual stimulation, was apprent.
Each idea felt like a thought path of synapse within a brain, that the viewer was abe to tap into.
This position of the viewer understanding themselves within the work is a really valuable concept within art - as the viewer now becomes associated with exprience itself, rather than a mere observer. Understanding that relationship between viewer and art is an importnt catalyst for change, growth, action. Beyond, a life of its outside the gallery, still existing even in lack of presence - in this transformation.
The area where one can sit down, rather intimately with a video and headphones felt like understanding a single thought path or synapse within Rafman’s brain, the room.
A vortex of a brain, where you quite literally walk in and cannot see the exit. Dream-like figures, with reflections of a narrative clearly pulled from many different areas of life, the internet, internet culture and gaming. The viewer becomes encapsulated, transforming from viewer to a character within this world.
The idea of showing us our digital possibility, based upon past and possible future I found to be an important concept - allowing in the ultimate decision of what is reality, yet never coming to a complete conclusion, due to the very nature of the question.
After Image
The After image, a phenomenon occurring when photochemical activity in the retina continues even when the eyes are no longer experiencing the original stimulus. So, if the eyes are subjected to reds and yellows, they respond by producing the complementary colours green and purple as an after image. Questions of what is physically accurate verses our own perception, and which is ‘reality’?
Colour theorist and painter, Josef Albers writes about afterimage in his book, Interaction of Colour, 1963, ‘Staring at red will fatigue the red sensitive parts (of the retina), so that with a sudden shift to white (which again consists of red, yellow and blue), only the mixture of yellow and blue occurs. And this is green, the complement of red.’
The viewer’s current frame of mind, emotional state, and what they have previously been visually exposed to will also have an effect on their perception and experience. It is to be considered that whatever one experiences in the present moment will be tinted with previous experiences, and how the body stores this memory of where you have been
French philosopher Merleau-Ponty in The Phenomenology of Perception, discusses temporal acquisition and the idea that our past experiences, remembered or not, follow us into the ever-present moment. He expresses the idea that all experience, every moment we have lived through persists indefinitely within us, influencing us in ways we are not aware of, with the memories of our childhood remaining throughout our lives, ‘What we have lived exists and remains for us, perpetually; the old man remains in contact with his childhood’.
So as we come to understand that our past memory is crucial in the role of our perception of experiences, we must now consider the effect is has on the future of something yet to be experienced.
Olafur Eliasson, colour, and movement in viewer.
Many of Eliasson’s works concern the relationship between the art and viewer, exploration of colour and environmental issues. The immersive spaces in which he creates usually allows the viewer to become a component of the art, physically and metaphorically. The idea of a reaction provoked through the experience of it is a preface to the discussion of importance of the phenomenological aspect of art for the viewer.
Eliasson explores colour in many of his works which offers ideas on its impacts to the viewer’s perception through the lens of merely fragmented light. Our own ideas, preconceptions and thoughts on colour, not even singular but combined, is now manifested into our viewing experience. How powerful is colour if it was for the lack of ourselves and the character? We have primal aspects of our brain that responds to colours, however what if colour is actually partly a self made lens in our psyche? (This is discussed more in, ‘Afterimage’)
How much control does a viewer have over their viewing experience of a piece? Walking through a piece or a collection is often a different experience to standing in front of a piece, Eliasson himself addresses this, identifying ‘much of the experience is quite literally inscribed in your legs.’ Perhaps the idea of the human body (and human consciousness) is an important concept that carries through many artists and their works as it can be a catalyst for the ultimate experience of art. Eliasson’s interpretation of viewing experience is often grounded in movement, rooted in the concept of movement and a noticing of the present moment, similar to a form of mindfulness. In his installations, particularly ‘Your Rainbow Panorama, 2011’, there is a suggestion that the use of a circular walkway, as opposed to a square one, emphasises the journey and the present moment, particularly in contrast to the square shape of the building it is located in. The idea of a cycle, a never beginning never ending present moment loop.
Walking through a circular path means being unable to see your destination. Questions surrounding destination now arise, what is it, where is it, des it even exist and what is its relevance if so? Eliasson has spoken on this, and he actually uses the comparison of English and French gardens, how French gardens have a pathway leading up to the central figure (usually a statue) and how in typical English gardens, not being able to see where you’re going is a central part of the whole experience. The act of movement is essential as he describes how in moving through the garden ‘…you create your own experience.’
The idea of creating your own experience relies on actually being mindfully aware, existing in the present moment to experience it, thus the circular pathway allows this. ‘The objective is not to reach the work and view it, but to move and sense your way through it’.
Could it be that the lack of movement in art is hindering experiencing it fully? Perhaps us, the viewer may benefit from considering our involvement and decision in experience. To meet the art and to work with it.