| State of Change (summary of the thesis) |
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| ‘In staat van verandering’ (‘State of change’) describes and contextualizes my examination project at Media-GN. The project is an attempt to find a proper description of certain images created in ‘Adobe Photoshop’. These images are produced by subtracting two images of the same view, made at different moments in time. The resulting image shows the differences between the original images. It is hard to describe what the resulting image is. It does not represent a moment in time, for it was produced out of pictures that describe different moments in time themselves. Still the resulting images tend to give the viewer the impression that they do represent such a moment in time. In trying to make them represent such a moment, I started to compare pictures that were made with a time difference of only 1/25 of a second, which roughly represents the threshold of human perception. The result (for human beings) is that each image so produced, represents the maximum perceivable differences between two temporal moments. |
The next step was to do this live and in realtime. This was accomplished by using Steim’s software package ‘Image/ine’. The result is in an installation which makes the audience aware of their constantly changing reality. One might get the impression that one’s reality at times doesn’t change much, but it is constantly changing. The impression of stability is partly due to neurological facts: the human visual system basically perceives only differences; after a period of time seemingly unchanging objects stop being observed. They hold no new information. The blanks are filled in with images from the memory. The installation shows (along with predictable changes) differences that are hardly ever perceived such as light changes, reflections, shadows and slight movements caused by the wind. The message is: if you look at things differently, you’ll get different information. |
I accompany my project description with my personal view on the terms information and data. I consider information as interpreted data. Data are all possible differences, for if there were no differences, there would be no information. The thesis concludes with my thoughts on the implications of showing this work in public space, which brings in monumental connotations. Considering myself an applied artist, I assume that my work may, under certain circumstances, achieve the status of an autonomous work of art.
Read the thesis (in Dutch) Related Subjects: |