how can we use new media to alter how we perceive and experience the world that surrounds us?
Through the creation of new media, we are encouraged to alter the world and our perception of it. Perceptual adaptation is a means to gain new perspectives (George M. Stratton, Carsten Höller) — our senses are neglected automatons (Madeline Schwartzman).
body — mind — body
Body image: the appearance of the body in the perceptual field. Body schema: how the body shapes the perceptual field (Shaun Gallagher). Enactive perception is a constant give and take between the perceiver’s embodied actions and the environment it interacts with (Alva Noë). Perception is informed through engagement and interaction.
extensions
Where does the mind stop and the rest of the world begin? (Andy Clark & David Chalmers) Beyond the boundaries of the human body, extended schemas and the affordance of technology present an opportunity for new ways of embodiment to arise. Extended forms of embodiment afford us to reimagine what it means to be human — artistic exploration as a way to reshape how we perceive.
abstract
Vistas is an interactive performance exhibition.
It explores how we can alter, extend, or distort our physical selves to reshape how we perceive. It focuses on how embodiment and embodied action shape perception.
The project invites us to experiment by combining our bodies with different tools, affording us to alter the perception and cognition bound to our embodied nature — allowing for the creation of extended embodiments and realities.
The project aims to create a safer space where people are invited to gather, and explore their extended selves. This space functions as a place for bodies, shapes, environments and perspectives to melt, giving way to new perceptive ideas to arise.
installation
The installation invites the public to explore the space by putting on different devices.
By using the devices, perceivers are encouraged to move freely and interact with the environment and each other.
The installation space presents an opportunity to gather, to explore different perspectives and to rethink old acquired ideas of perception and reality.
conclusion
Perception is an active task. We constantly shape it through our experiences and our bodies’ role in embodying them. Having an active role in how we unwrap ourselves in specific environments allows us to adjust our bodies, how we perceive them, and how we exist within a particular space. By actively doing this, we can gain agency of how we exist in the world, challenging the conditioned perception we are bound to because of our human nature.
New Media tools present an opportunity to pursue this kind of enactive perception, allowing new ways of embodiment to arise, fundamentally changing how we perceive. Such an extended embodiment opens up many ways to reimagine what it means to be human and define new ways to leave our bodily limitations behind. Combining our bodies and technology invites us to imagine new ways of embodiment, resignifying what it even means to be human.
Vistas is an ongoing project exploring how artistic research and technological advancements and expressions can help in shaping how we perceive and how we define the world surrounding us. The project serves as a starting point for an everlasting exploration of how we can improve and alter ourselves by engaging with different technologies in different contexts. It gives way to new questions to arise: Are there different ways of being? Can we actively shape our surroundings by questioning the way we perceive and interact with our context? How can we re-shape technologies by trying new ways of using them?
