A wooden structure with reflective glass that hides a pair of speakers, a webcam, and a light that comes on after a while: the person activates the system when he/she put its fingers on the part with the transparent text in braille, while watching one’s reflection. The left portion of the area covering your captured image comes through the left speaker, the right part through the right speaker, and the sound itself depends on the amount of light and darkness in each sector.
Full Description
"The prophet is not so much who sees,
but he who has interpreted what someone else has seen "
De Genesi XII.9.20
Saint Agustine
The Idolum is the "bottom" part of the soul, of the anima, that portion which interacts with the material world, according to some Neoplatonists texts (Agrippa, Ficino). For them, the soul had three parts: the intellect (mens), reason ( ratio) and idolum responsible of fantasy and sensory perception. The reason (ratio) would have the power (free will) to choose between what the mens offers (good and immortal) or fall into the trap of the material world (the world perceived and introjected by the idolum) which is often misleading.
This piece consists of a wooden structure, that intentionally evokes the format of a painting, with reflective glass hiding a pair of speakers, a webcam, and a light that comes on after a while: the person activates the system when he/she put its fingers on the part with the transparent text in braille, while watching one’s reflection. The left portion of the area covering your captured image comes through the left speaker, the right part through the right speaker, and the sound itself depends on the amount of light and darkness in each sector.
After some time, it activates a light from within that reveals the inner structure consisting of a surveillance system that incorporates the image to a computer: through an assignment of values to each pixel in the array of video, "reinterpreted " sound image (in Max MSP / Jitter), which distracts and alienates the person, not finishing the text, unless, its a blind person, who shall not be interrupted by light and will be able to end reading.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 2008
- Submitted to ArtBase: Sunday Apr 29th, 2012
- Original Url: http://vimeo.com/15241315
-
Work Credits:
- Paola Torres, creator
Take full advantage of the ArtBase by Becoming a Member
Artist Statement
Is it that information is molded by the same senses that incorporates it? What happens if a certain type (or form) of information, that normally would be conditioned to enter by one sense -in a synesthesia manner - so it can enter through another, in this specific case, if images are "translated" into sound? Obviously for us, this information will be uncomprehensible, losing all its meaning.
But now I wonder if this only happens because of our physical limitations... That there could exist beings that would be able to process this type of information; as a bat (even if the example might not be the best, since they use the bouncing of sound to measure distances) they could reconstruct the world, what we will be seeing, by listening it. As it happens, in a way, with Braille. Most people don’t know how to read it; the information that it contains can’t be accessed. But to blind minorities, this information is accessible (if the they know the reading technique); with touch, they can "read", just as a synesthesia, an image can be described by a tactile media... But, what is it lost when doing this change, this translation? It is said that energy is the same throughout the universe; that the only things happening is a constant exchange of it between its constituents, that is never lost, that is only transformed... Can it happen the same with information? Can it just constantly be transformed and never be really lost, and then, what happens is that we don’t have the means for understanding it when it doesn’t enter the sense it would usually incorporate/process it?
Related works
