Designed Reality Experience
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Digital Reality and the Perception of Self
Presentation Title:
- Designed Reality Experience
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
This paper will discuss the issues of sensory apparatus creating human reality. On the examples of artists, like James Turrell and Olafur Eliasson, whose artistic practice is deeply anchored in the 20th century understanding of body and its sensual awareness, and who are using ephemeral materials such as space, light and its most subjective derivative, colour, the author is going to deliberate on the phenomenon of design of polysensual artistic experiments inextricably merged into the tissue of reality. In such experiments, human perceptory apparatus is used as a tool for creating certain cognitive imprints, impressions, effects; human senses are medium for creative activities in the permanent, uninterrupted process of reconstitution of subjective view of the world. Reality, in this way, is always subjective and ‘belongs’ to an individual. Contemporary artistic practice is able to show to what (high) degree our understanding, our perception of reality, is unique to human kind due to the anatomy and physiology of senses (and the way we define them). Consequently, artists by creating sensual experiences, designing sets of art-ificial circumstances, are able to prove that there is a number of realities and they are polyvalent, heterogenic and subjected to artistic creation. Design of reality emerges. Author will also ponder on the ever-increasing representational and, thus, negotiable status of reality. Furthermore, highlighted will be the ongoing changes in the inherited hierarchical 5-senses order in arts and new approach to sensorium due to emergence of new technologies. The fascinating possibilities opened up by application of new technologies to arts shall also be discussed on example of chosen, recently created new media artworks.
