Considering the senses... Our last text, A Natural History of the Senses by Ackerman, examines each sense, the science and history, coupled with remembrances and association of that sense from a variety of people. For example, Ackerman describes her own experiences with Touch and the sensitivity of the human body and our skin as an organ, but she also includes quotes from Helen Keller, remarking on her ability to 'sense' vibrations from music or voices and thus derive pleasure or knowledge from such a touch. While Ackerman's use of science and history frames the sense info, the narratives and personal experiences give life to these senses and initiate memories for the reader - reaching into our archives for childhood memories of favorite tastes, college parties with such a distinctive smell, or even the sound of a favorite song. The memory/archive connection emphasizes the relay between sense and thought - the impulse or feeling and then the contextualization...All based in Electric signals. I decided to include a few of my own sense memories and favorite sense moments - to tap into my own archive a bit and involve my memory in aesthetics. And to see if these images conjure a sensory experience for others. Smells:
"Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe."
Many people have seen the above email circulating (or something like it) with missing letters in the body of text. While the article posted actually explains more of the nuances to this trick, and critiques the claim, the idea remains:
We learn to recognize the symbols of language, organize them, and then build higher structures of thought and systems of reasoning around them. As Dr. Ulmer says in our class, the Greeks didn't start with Astrophysics, they started with the alphabet and built up from there.
Even if the letters are switched a bit, as readers, we go with the most likely options, produced by years of reading and pattern recognition.
So, we have been discussing a 'shifting of the gaze' from the tourist mentality - co-opting the institution of tourism to understand the idea of travel, attractions, fame, and iconography. Smithson built on these ideas by engaging the site/nonsite and the (w)hole of blind spots and perception. Now, Ackerman is mapping the senses, explain the institution of our physical perception and connecting it to our archive of knowledge, our memories and associations.
Like the email above, we need to 'trick' our brain - using the sense patterns that we already know to shift the focus, to surprise, yet re-collect and re-connect.
I have been perusing my own archive (as well as the Internets) and was reminded of several patterns and shifts that juxtapose and recreate meaning - having an impact on the senses.
The first, was Magic Eye.
You remember that craze not so long ago:
(Scene from Mallrats)
Well, this is my attempt to 're-vision' Smithson's idea of entropy through the Magic Eye:
I don't want to spoil it for you, but to avoid the above frustration by 'the sailboat' - I will just tell you that I took Smithsons grid and imposed a circle/wheel in the middle. What was a bit unexpected was the visual blurring (or at least that is what I am calling it) that kinda looks like a slow motion bullet, cutting through the pattern. My original intention was to merely imbed/'magic eye' the circle over the grid to represent both my Significator card of the Chariot (the force of will in a difficult journey) as well as the idea of community - that we are all connected, mapped onto a place, space, and time and collectively impact that environment.
Yet, when the magic eye image formed, the 'blurring' echoed the entropy of Smithson's woodshed, visually representing the slowly seeping poison moving into our soil and water supply. And the associations of the Chariot seemed even more apt in this situation:
Using the same magic eye generator, I reconfigured the background as a map of Alachua county:
While the 'entropy' is more subtle, the effect still remains. We, as a community, in our appetitive desire, started the slowly building force that is presently harming our environment and community - and threatening to spread.
To me, thus far, this visual trope works well to represent 'The Accident'
And it was a bit of a happy 'accident'
Isn't that the fun of omens and interpretations?! :)
Just to see how the Tarot works and to experiment with a Celtic Cross Spread, I did a reading through an online source and received the following results:
We have a million and one representative symbols, icons, images with meanings, art, etc. Like in my last blog post, I have been toying with the idea of how a system of representation is established, or at least proliferated. Well, funny story, Tarot has a nice little system to it that hopefully our class can model.
Like any other 'divination system' Tarot is not exactly a math equation, but a method of introspection and interpretation. As Ulmer would say - you don't go to the Oracle to get the right answer, you go to hear the answer you already know. We use Oracles, Tarot, Horoscopes, or even Prayer to request, re-consider, and re-position ourselves in the context of a particular situation. We go to these systems with questions, but have to intuit the applicability of the answers - the signs and omens that might work for a given experience. The Tarot offers options and we fill in the blanks. As Rachel Pollack says, "this is the world of structure and symbolism, a world where ideas and images move in and out of each other, giving birth to deeper awareness" (41). The cards do have specific meanings, general truths for each number, suit, and image. For instance, the Aces are the beginning of the numbers and usually represent a new beginning or inspiration. The suits, Wands, Pentacles, Swords, or Cups, each have a general meaning as well and an elemental association. The combinations of features on the cards present a general truth or meaning to be applied to your life and to answer your specific question.
For example - My significator card according to the 'date method' is The Chariot. (Using your birthday to determine a number that corresponds to a particular card - 4+19+1982 = 2005 = 7 = Chariot)
We are going to use the Tarot for inspiration, trying to configure a system that might help us build an aesthetic electrate apparatus from this bachelor machine I actually ended up trying to explain some of our project and the connection of Tarot to electracy to a friend and I think the conversation ended up really helping me ask some questions, make some mistakes, but also get some clarity - so I wanted to include it here:
then we are actually looking at the history of Tarot in the Western tradition this week to examine how stories and mythology, morals and whathaveyou are worked into the various types of Tarot decks (because their are many)
and then examining how Tarot works like an Oracle
you know, the Oracle was never really the one with the answers
she was just the high virgin that you asked questions that you really already knew the answer to
or at least had some leaning
but then she would say some crazy nonesense and you would interpret it the way you really wanted
but the point was that going to her made you reexamine an issue
so we are talking about getting people to do that with Smart technology
instead of just been appetitive
causing some sort of reflection
even if it just makes people choose what they would have - hopefully it alters their perspective enough to look outside themselves for five seconds and consider alternative viewpoints
It sounds super hokey and a little 'L.A' to me, but it is kinda cool how he is pulling all this stuff out through both the technological and mystical tradition
even just the fact that you are not just going with the first thing that pops in your head, that you have to interpret generally makes you ask questions and think about consequences
so while there is still a bias and it is not a perfect system, the 'pause' that it causes makes you consider other alternatives you might not have or relate it to other systems or things in your life
I mean, the whole Tarot system is based on asking a questions first
seeking an answer
so if you get some card back that signals 'you will face a trial in your work or study of moderate strength, forcing you to take responsibility that you have been avoiding'
then you have to think - what situation, or what responsibility
and then you start going through you life and how everything relates and you start thinking about alternative possibilities
hmmm, yah i see, but it seems no different than continually reshuffling the same information into new organizations that makes it have a different meaning
i just think about the position, like how far outside the original question can you end up while working within the same deck, or smart tech.
well devil's advocate here, but how is it that it can be definitively disconnection? and not a refashioning of the meaning of what it is to be connected
