The illusion of image or the image of Illusion?
Abstract
Technology has transformed our concept of image representation; the sense of movement itself has gained an immaterial dimension, completely transforming the idea of representation. The object turns out to be the illusion of movement itself, which becomes a multi sensory experience reaching a psychological level of reality. Contemplation gives place to a new fruition space and the viewer get a new status: viewer-user. The work is multifaceted and reveals itself through intervention related of course to different behaviours potentially expressed by the users.
Keywords-
Illusion, Imagination, Image representation, Image-sound immaterial dimension, Ilusion of movement/techno
I. Picture as memory: a symbolic form in the construction of worlds
A. Representation, symbol, metaphor
Representation is the expression of the human need to explain and give meaning to the facts of conscience. Through it, we try to explain the experiences that we have had and what we managed to take from them. That is the way in which we ought to build and remodel experience in the space of conscience.
This construction has a structure with a specific elementary order. Every creator takes an order, a structure and a combination of elements that makes his work personal even when the work keeps a sense of realism. Therefore, it cannot be judged true or false, because it simply “is”!
Knowledge is made of representations that can be classified under three types: The Sensitive knowledge is when representation depends on the physical presence of the object.
The imaginative knowledge, in which the physical aspect is no longer present, and the abstract knowledge, where the object is no longer the central interest and, where its essence, trough its features or it's particular aspects is the key with the purpose to create a new concept;
Creating, respectively three levels of knowledge: sensitivity, imagination and intellect.
"World-making begins with one version and ends with another." [1].
Art is a world of images and a field of multiple meanings. The artist changes the existing space of representation through creativity in a symbolic process of transformation. Because of the desire and the necessity to communicate, the artist creates the images in the midst of a confrontation with himself but also inside his relationship with others. Art cannot exist autonomously and only for itself. It can only exist when apprehended and seen by others, regardless of the moment in time and the stage in which it has been presented.
For Husserl, as for Sartre, a picture is an intention, a specific way that conscience has of experiencing an event and placing it in the world. Consequently, it is more a product of our conscience much than an internal representation that would oppose conscience to the external world. Every piece of aesthetic expression is a representation, whether figurative of abstract. Figurative expression represents the object and the abstract represents a kind of sensitivity; it stands for a feeling, an emotion, because there can be no representations without symbols.
Creating symbols is also a feature of the human mind that finds itself in the process of the search for knowledge, present since our childhood in games of make-believe and later, in science, art and religion.
Pictures are part of a representative system, a symbolic scheme belonging to a language that uses metaphor as its main asset. However, this metaphor is not a mere rhetoric procedure as it is first and foremost a powerful form of expression, of multiple meaning as well as a way to condense multiple denotations in open systems that always lead to a certain number of interpretations, as we know from Plato's - that there is no ownership of objective reality.
B. Imagination
Imagination is the ability of portraying an absent object. We can make out two types of imaginative postures: the one that replicates the image of something- of an object that we already know- and the creative
imagination through which we make art pieces or build scientific and technology progress. It is an association of ideas and synthetically analyses of systems, figures and pre-existing structures that gain a complete new identity when they have been reset.
"As all simple ideas may be separated by the imagination, and may be united again in what form it pleases,..." [2].
We could not have had imagination without this association of ideas; no knowledge would have been possible either. The creative imagination, just as creativity itself, is a construction of new figures and new structures. It implies understanding and receptivity, since creation is a cognitive process.
Creative imagination is a specific human feature, if we consider that the human mind is able to combine heterogeneous schemes, compare them to each other and, from them is capable of creating new ones, originating something never before seen.
"Of the liberty of the imagination to transpose and change its ideas" [3].
When we reorganize experiences, we remake worlds and create new ones; new universes. This creative, also called psyche, gives images a new meaning, while they are put together; leaving behind the previous referent for the emergence of new figures. Only in the psychological sphere can this activity prevail; it is out of the biological as much as is out of the biological field.
But imagination, as an intellectual activity, is not the same as representation not memory; even if it is connected to both. Imagination is an ability that combines elements. It is necessary however, before transforming and reconstructing elements, to pay attention and learn. These elements are part of representation that can only be built through the recollection of the event that triggered it.
This representation is of the utmost necessity, making it easier to find several ways of putting facts into an order. If there is no representation, knowledge cannot be since imagination has not taken place. Art must be considered, as well as science, since both use symbolic systems, as a way of discovering and developing knowledge.
As Goodman told us - knowledge is redoing and not be aware.
"Comprehension and creation go on, together"[4].
imagination through which we make art pieces or build scientific and technology progress. It is an association of ideas and synthetically analyses of systems, figures and pre-existing structures that gain a complete new identity when they have been reset.
"As all simple ideas may be separated by the imagination, and may be united again in what form it pleases,..." [2].
We could not have had imagination without this association of ideas; no knowledge would have been possible either. The creative imagination, just as creativity itself, is a construction of new figures and new structures. It implies understanding and receptivity, since creation is a cognitive process.
Creative imagination is a specific human feature, if we consider that the human mind is able to combine heterogeneous schemes, compare them to each other and, from them is capable of creating new ones, originating something never before seen.
"Of the liberty of the imagination to transpose and change its ideas" [3].
When we reorganize experiences, we remake worlds and create new ones; new universes. This creative, also called psyche, gives images a new meaning, while they are put together; leaving behind the previous referent for the emergence of new figures. Only in the psychological sphere can this activity prevail; it is out of the biological as much as is out of the biological field.
But imagination, as an intellectual activity, is not the same as representation not memory; even if it is connected to both. Imagination is an ability that combines elements. It is necessary however, before transforming and reconstructing elements, to pay attention and learn. These elements are part of representation that can only be built through the recollection of the event that triggered it.
This representation is of the utmost necessity, making it easier to find several ways of putting facts into an order. If there is no representation, knowledge cannot be since imagination has not taken place. Art must be considered, as well as science, since both use symbolic systems, as a way of discovering and developing knowledge.
As Goodman told us - knowledge is redoing and not be aware.
"Comprehension and creation go on, together"[4].
I. Multisensory experience, ,creating illusion
A. Illusion: the mistake of the senses, reality and appearance
In the Pre-historical forms of society, representation had a magical dimension: cave painting represented hunting scenes. The pre-historical man hoped that in painting his wishes would become reality through a transcendent force. In those societies, art was expressed in the practicing of rituals, artefacts, costumes and beliefs that were attached to their way of living. Nonetheless, they portrayed an interested, in the depiction of the sense of space. The material features of the caves were actually taken in consideration, reinforcing the engraving of the shapes and giving a sense of volume, profoundness and movement to them.
This care for shape has been consistent throughout the evolution of the human race, giving birth to more sophisticated environments. These frescoes of Pompeii are an example of that use of scale and color to catch the eye, intertwining the material space and the representative dimension. The viewer is seduced by the fusion of the exterior with a virtual dimension, giving the impression that the surrounding environment is also part of the picture. The notion of space, as well as its mental representation, has always been a key element in visual expression. Ever since the Renaissance we have been able, with geometrical techniques to create a visual illusion that simulates depth and reproduces the atmospheric perspective, thanks to the translucent properties of oil paint, when applies in multiple coats.
We have developed a number of techniques that present, with that same realistic rigor, a fusion of realities; make it almost impossible to separate the two. The judgement is impaired because of the similarity of the experience to its exterior reality. The viewer is then emotionally engaged to the picture through the illusion of a proximity to his own space that becomes a place of phenomenon, allowing him to enter another reality.
The introduction of time and in hand with introduction of movement- cinema- has that same purpose. By blurring the viewer's judgement, and cutting out his critical distance, allowing an emotional connection that provides a real psychological experience, in a virtual space, where he is not supposed to be the main character.
B. Illusion
For Kant, illusion was a game that remains even knowing, that the object is not real.
When it comes to pure illusion, the content appears to exist, even if its reality does not. Feelings and thoughts are conditioned in this same way, giving place to false judgments.
In the perception of sensorial illusion, the object is shown in different way from what it really is.
Conceptual illusion makes that resemblance come through, making a parallel between the concepts that there are common, because of a lack of attention from the viewer.
Illusion is a perception created by a confusion of representative elements that give the impression of being truly and physically present. Even fantasy takes on a vivacity of perception that really not exists (hallucination).
1) Optical Illusion
That affects visual perception; they rely on the interpretation of the visual information that is given. It can be found in such phenomena as
· Perspective
· Size,
· Color,
· Light.
· On phenomena like mirages, whose visual stimulus is real and can be captures by photography.
· The illusion created by magicians is also based on the limitations of sight and obviously,
· Cinema, TV, where the illusion of movement explored in animation by the retinas persistence, it is to say the speed of the visual stimulus process.
1) Audio Illusion
The illusions that affect the audio perception such as sound effects like the surround system, manage to create a sense of positioning that submerge the viewer even more, creating the illusion of variation and of synchronised movements that connect audio and sight. The Greek mimesis makes that same mind process between reality and appearances.
Kant distinguishes Appearance from Illusion, that would not be the object, but in the judgment we do about it.
We can point out three kinds of illusion: empiric, logic and transcendent.
The empirical illusion takes place when imagination uses our judgment abilities- imagination is the ability of evoking and producing images apart from the object that it refers to- Christian Woof even referred imagination as the ability to produce perceptions of sensible things which are away, not present.
Logical illusion is found in the act of lying.
Transcendent illusion is difficult to recognize because it is based on subjective principles that pass as objective.
The transcendent determination is the one that is based on the human essence and for that, are impossible to separate from its changes and manners. The combination relies on a harmonic realisation of a contemplative knowledge and an evaluative need. In beauty the being and the spirit find their way to rest because they are lay in a perfect form of existence.
C. Tecnology: a new tool
The evolution of the artistic ways of expression has been perpetuated by our own need of communication. When it comes to the making of art work, the kind of material used has a significant importance as it is chosen with specific purposes and artist are always concerned by the new technological tools that have been created by other fields of research and use them to their own profit. Material and techniques are conditioned by a perpetual progress. What we see today in the digital field is the o new technical instrument that as been extended once more to the artistic creations. And the first big change was the fact that the screen replaced the canvas.
"The technique is an extension of the arm" [5].
D. Illusion of movement: an effect of technology
Expressions are conditioned by their technical support and, as a matter of fact, a lot of the mediums we have today like photography, lighting or cinema would not have been possible without the progress of science and technology. In the last decades, sciences has studied and helped to the comprehension of perception mechanisms - such as the perception of movement- in a large number of fields. We cannot help to see that this as taken a whole new dimension with the changes of the imaging world. We used to save images with filming like in a memory process but now we can actually create pictures directly from our imagination. In television video the representative worlds is no longer sequence of objects but a sequence of movements.
"The patient contemplation makes the work of art come into motion" [6].
However, the representation of movement has become restless, making static contemplation incompatible with the process of art representation. Memory is put aside and what is left of it is just the 24- 25 images per second.
From emotion to emotion and thought to thought, this process is shown by moving pictures that leave us with rhythm, pace and expression of feelings. The process itself is taken more into consideration than the object and the flow is the expression of the modern world.
Aesthetical pictures, in general, are not static but a product of a process. What is left of it becomes the main focus: the way that the empty space is put together between pictures, the intensity with which they catch our eye and transform into metaphors in the mental space. The illusion of movement is the goal of the expression. Just as it is in music, the moving image uses pace rhythm and as therefore, since technology has transformed our representation concept, the sense of movement itself has gained an immaterial dimension, completely transforming the idea of representation. This is reinforced by the use of the digital support because no actual material remains, only light.
Playing with both representation and exposure emphasises the illusion of image as the two different realities create an interaction of a physical world with a more abstract reality, giving a new sense of space and time to the representation of movement. A lot of times, the audio gadgets, that we have mentioned before makes it hard to separate these two realities. Scales, points of view get a new take with the mix of the new technical skills that demand the intervention of the viewer that has to become as active user of the piece in order for it to reveal itself.
The notion of what immaterial is has become quite richer and more complex with the inclusion of new types of senses like the touch. Physical reaction is part of the equation of illusion. The phenomenological space lies in fruition.
Artists have always worked with the paradoxical and utopian space in the quest for the truth and the desire to transform reality into illusion. The perception of movement has enabled the rise of sensations and emotional response and started a cognitive process of
analysis- in the selection of information and in decision-making.
As noted, the piece has to symbolize. But its aesthetic quality and cognitive-effectiveness will be felt with more or less efficiency thank to the way that the symbolization is done. Leading to a higher and greater aesthetic excellence of the work, and a efficacy in cognitive terms.
The Image-memory gives place to a Space-time-memory. The element that is new about the introduction of technology in contemporary artistic production is the change in the representative space taking a leadership with the introduction of space-time dimension, which it didn’t have before.
Time is the dimension that drives the action, time as representation of movement, and / or in “real time” when the user participation is requested. Without it the reading of the art object it will not be possible. The artistic object will not happen.
The artistic object reacts to the spectator’s behaviour, and responds to use it. We have now a very new situation in the history of Art, where the viewer is also a user.
E. Materiality and immateriality: tools that merge with the image material
As we have said already, materials and matters have their own characteristics. The choice of a material is central to allow the work to achieve its maximum potential of expression within the initial purpose. Nevertheless, it takes more than material to make an object of artistic expression.
Technological evolution has occurred all during this last century, followed by the evolution of image. We witness that image is no longer a record of memory, as it was before when fixed on a painting or a sculpture. Nowadays our images can be manipulated themselves.
Images are made otherwise, making use of technique to able exist, and not to of primary material anymore.
Technique itself has got transformed into material. When we build synthetic images, they can be generated by:
· Actions that we execute when defining software that will interpret and generate images by binary codes.
· Creating or using algorithms, which have a visual output, originating colors, shapes and movements.
This last process is much more complex because we need to translate the visual elements we want into mathematics language. Anyway, in both cases it is difficult to find out the frontiers between tools and matter due to the fact that they interpenetrate each other.
New images are the result of two languages: mathematics and aesthetics. With mathematical calculations they get a visual form though not a real substance, they become almost exclusively a luminous record.
But when talking about Light can we talk about material? Or should we talk about energy?
So within this contest we can talk about the immateriality of image, which is an expression of contemporaneity.
It seems elementary that it is not the material that makes the object: we need much more as has been said before.
If material implicates an approach, this one, as a new form, has happened in a context that allowed its development. The contemporary need of representation, resulting of a specific need of thinking representation, the contemporary thought.
III. Ways of representation throughout the cognitive process of ‘world-making’
The artistic object always has to have a symbolic representation, either built up with classical materials like paint and a canvas, or with the new one, the mathematical calculations. Since an art piece is not an intrinsic property.
Da Vinci already suggested the idea of a window - the painting as a window to another reality.
Through an art piece, new realities, artists create new worlds, as much as the viewers’ eyes for that same piece have made up new realities.
The object only becomes a work of art through a communication process, upon a cognitive experience of emotion-thought-feeling.
· To artist, it is a process that takes place during the creation of the object, turning into the artist’s view in that precise moment.
· To the viewer-user it is process of discovery, which might not be the same that the artist wanted to communicate.
The artist might be able to introduce a new point of view on reality, with a more or less poetic approach, but it will always be through a metaphor.
Both, the artist and as much as the viewer-user, learn.
They learn their own part in the cognition process. Due to the individuality of each one of us, it is just natural that the work of art will trigger in the viewer-user a reading that should be different from one to another, which could also include a different reading point from the one that artist intended to. This dimension that some art pieces have, give them a special status that enable discovery.
The phenomenological time of the fruition-use is intrinsic to each one of us and always unrepeatable - ideas, thoughts and emotions open new interior spaces, new realities and new worlds. This experience of seizure with the physical world is possible through out the aesthetic experience.
The work of art communicates the artist’s emotion that triggers emotion in the viewer-user.
It is the emotion that leads to the cognitive process: emotion originates sensations, feelings that lead to an intellectual analysis, selection and decision. In short it will lead us to a new space-field-platform for acquisition of competence and knowledge.
Due to the very new possibilities unlocked by the present technological production, new art objects have emerged, only reveals through the dynamic intervention of the viewer-user. Only then, a complete reading of the work will be complete. The work is multifaceted and reveals itself through intervention.
These new objects are made possible only as a result of technological development and getting more and more complex everyday thanks to the override of borders in the technological field, allowing different systems in a same object which requires the participation of the user with different responses- related of course to different behaviours potentially expressed by the users.
Contemplation ceases to be the only way to discover an art object: the sight becomes dynamic. Not only the object is dynamic, but also the process leading to the discovery-fruition of the piece.
The imaginary creation made by the viewer-user is always a subjective interpretation of the work of art. This interpretation is made possible through the artist's sensibility, imagination and intellect and only after can that it gains a space of consciousness.
The main goal of modern art is to instigate reflection.
References
[1] N. Goodman " Ways of worldmaking"-Manières de faire des mondes, Gallimard, Paris 1978
[2] D. Hume " The treatise of Human Nature" Digireads.com 2010 pp15.
[3] D. Hume " The treatise of Human Nature" Digireads.com 2010 pp15.
[4] Goodman Nelson "Manières de faire des mondes", Gallimard, Paris 1978 pp22
[5] Adorno, Theodor W. , Teoria Estética, edições 70, Lisboa, 1970
[6] Adorno, Theodor W. , Teoria Estética, edições 70, Lisboa, 1970
[7] Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, La créativité, Psicologie de la découverte et de l’invention, éditions Robert Laffont, Paris, 2006
[8] Grau, Oliver, Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion, Leonardo Books,, 2003
[9] Goodman, Nelson, L’art en théorie et en action, Gallimard, Paris, 1984,
[10] Goodman, Nelson,, Langages de l’art, Une approche de la théorie des symboles, Hachette, Paris, 1990
