i mimic what i see
i mimic what i do
Archive for May 26, 2006
The reducible complexity of a thesis proposal
Talking with my advisor Phoebe today may have helped me remember something that was important to my original research plan.
Perceiving non-human points of view and the idea of empathy is a fundamental characteristic of each of my two current research plans (using cinema as a simulacra of the genome; architectural and sculptural artifacts for religious and scientific convergence). Each of these sought to provide some way to experience empathy or represent nature, respectively. For empathy, cinema may provide opportunities to visualize a “gene’s eye view.” By fusing shared elements of religious and scientific tools and spaces, the ways that science and religion represent nature similarly can be communicated.
I suppose what is common is that each tries to represent something about non-humans and seeks alternative ways of doing that without the aid of advaanced technology or visualization tools. In a sense, simple emphasis on composition, framing, point of view, and lens choice can affect dramatically what and how people perceive nature.
Perhaps it is as simple as providing an animal or plant with the ability to use a human artifact in their own way, providing a sense of their functional perspective.
a feeling for the organism…
