The Scale Of Sound & Light

I like things that play with your sense of perception and reality – like the old Magic Eye books and Animal Collective’s Merriweather artwork as seen below:

I like things even better when they transcend the page and become 3D/4D. Last weekend, in preparation for an extra special project I’m working on, I took a trip. Ha! Only to MOTAT, Auckland’s Museum of Transport and Technology.

There we visited the Tactile Dome - a system of tunnels inside a purpose built dome which eliminates all light sources. It’s total darkness, and you navigate through the obstacles (including up ladders and down slides) only using your sense of touch and direction.

It turns out I have little sense of direction, some how managing to fall behind my friends, despite the fact we were crawling and writhing around in a line. So challenging! A super example of sense deprivation.

While looking through the project’s visual references I came across another idea which absolutely tickled my fancy – Carsten Höller’s Upside Down Mushroom Room.

In 2000-2001 Höller created the room as part of an installation called ‘Synchro System’ for the Fondazione Prada in Milan. Designboom describes the process and feeling of experiencing the exhibition.

Further investigation reveals Höller was inspired by psychologist George Malcolm Stratton, who in 1896 performed an experiment on himself. Understanding that images projected onto retinas are inputted ‘upside down’ and then flipped by our brains, he set out to discover what would happen if he wore glasses that reversed the image on his retina.

“At first he was wildly disoriented, but at the end of 8 days, his brain perceived the world as it had before he donned the specs.The brain is remarkably adept at doing illusory cartwheels. A few days after he removed the glasses his world returned to normal.” [from Shallow Thoughts]

Cool huh?

Another arty tidbit I found was MOCA’s exhibition on Ecstasy: In and About Altered States – while little pictures are forthcoming, a review at Techgnosis provides an evocative description of the art found within.

I’m going to keep on the look out for other art and experiences that turn our world upside down and inside out. In the mean time I will leave you with Virtual Barbershop, an MP3 experience that plays with sound and perception. Simply pop on your headphones, close your eyes and play. Voila!

Tagged as: Art, creativity, Inspiration