Field: Robert Pepperell – Art and the Conscious Mind

Some of the early questions we faced in our first lecture with Robert were: ‘What is the biological basis of consciousness?’ and ‘What makes us human?’ In answer to the first question: ‘no one knows.’ In answer to the second question:

– We make Art, unlike any other animal

– We always have e.g. cave paintings

– We have conscious minds, therefore we are critically aware of ourselves.

Other than that, there is not much else that makes us unique.

Another question we were faced with was ‘What is a conscious mind for?’, turns out we don’t necessarily need one, as we are able to sleep walk, sleep talk etc.

…

Robert then showed us a photograph of this painting by Anthony Van Dyck titled ‘Cupid and Psyche’ (1640)

This painting proved to be very informative and relevant to our lecture as it symbolised so much about consciousness. Firstly, it represents the mythological figures Cupid and Psyche who symbolise human emotions and consciousness (e.g. love, inner feelings, our spirit etc). In this painting they are somewhat in different places; Cupid being present in the real world and Psyche, possibly dreaming in her slumber, being inside her mind. But interestingly, Robert pointed out the trees: one is very abundant and healthy (left) and the other is practically dead (right). None of us had taken any notice of the trees, we were totally fixed on the main scene that we never noticed it’s scenery, which is all relevant in painting. Perhaps the trees represent the differences between the conscious mind and the real world, that things may not always be how they appear. Our conscious mind and our waking state are two very different things.

Here are some theories based on the conscious mind:

– Panpsychism: Everything has a conscious mind

– Eliminativism: It doesn’t exist.

– Mysterianism: It can’t be explained or worked out

– Dualism: Distinct from the physical and material.

– Mind = Spirit – Body = Material

– That our brains are just matter and there is only a material realm that exists, conscious or not.

One fact I found rather interesting is that there was a time when people believed our minds are in our stomachs as there are more neurons there than in our entire nervous system. However, modern scientists go by the belief that our minds are in our brains which are essentially blobs of flesh.

Robert spoke about (and showed us) his work, which is based on the phenomena of ‘visual indeterminacy’ (being unable to recognize something immediately.) It is a fact that we, as humans, automatically try and search for coherent images even if there is nothing there, we have no choice.

It would seem we are in need of visual satisfaction, or any of the other senses for that matter. Robert mentioned the ‘Ganzfeld State’, a technique which claims to test people for extrasensory perception, during which a person is partially deprived of their senses of sight and sound. It is proved rather dangerous to deprive one’s self of any senses as it confuses our brains, which, for example, conjure up shapes and colours behind our eyelids before we fall asleep, simply to have something to look at. I think this is fascinating stuff…

We then got onto the rather dry part of the lecture where Robert talks about Quantum Physics. Uber interesting but overall, very difficult to absorb in such a short space of time, and i’m going to simplify it best I can.

First mentioned was ‘The Newtonian Universe’ so obviously, the way the universe was believed to function in Newton’s time (17th century). The diagram of this looked like a well constructed machine, funnily enough. They had it all worked out… What I found most humerous was that astrological star signs were included in the machine; back then the idea of astrology was not laughable but part of the universe and it’s workings. It was about the planets. And yet we always think we have the answers, but continue to prove ourselves wrong. As time has moved on, the pattern of knowledge hasn’t changed, but our knowledge has.

Robert then went on to talk about Schroedinger’s Cat, the principle that the cat in the box is both alive and dead at the same time by probability until one finds out the answer and makes it true. Until one makes it true, it is simultaneous. Therefore, in the world of quantum physics, Schroedinger’s cat can be in various different states at the same time, conflicting with Einstein’s theories, which would suggest the cat is either alive or it is dead and there is no middle area. What I have discovered for myself in Robert’s lectures is that much of physics is based on paradoxical and philosophical ideas, that it is mainly based on theories and not necessarily proven facts.

So I suppose the overall theme in this lecture was observation, (which is a huge factor in Schroedinger’s cat), as observation is what gives us existence and also, a conscious mind.

Field term 1 – Final Piece

For my final piece I constructed a sound piece inspired by our second session with Camilla, during which we were given the opportunity to experiment with the idea of creating an environment with sound using Zoom handy recorders to do so. I really enjoyed this session as I already have a keen interest in sound and sound art, and i knew straight away what I wanted to do for my final piece.

I came up with my idea very quickly and stuck with it right to the end. I wanted to create something relating to technology and the way humans interact with it. I came up with the concept that, because we focus so much of our time and interest on our phones, our minds almost accommodate them and therefore become an environment for our phones. This is something I feel quite strongly about; I find it scary that our phones have become so important to us as a race, therefore I knew this was a topic I would enjoy working on.

Here is my Final Piece, which I edited using the program Cubase 7.5.

And below are some photos I took after setting up my presentation space.

 

This thought process got me thinking about a sound installation I once viewed in the Saatchi gallery in 2009 by artist John Wynne. It consisted of 300 speakers, a Pianola, a vacuum cleaner, audio amplifiers, a hard disc recorder, a speaker wire, suction hose, and a piano roll. All these objects combined to make not only an impressive sound installation, but almost even a sculpture with a very intense presence. I remembered how it felt standing before the huge pile of speakers, feeling so small compared to it. It’s function was to play a song (via the pianola) but each note had been spaced apart so that the song played over an unusually long period of time, so that the song was indistinguishable. It seemed to sigh and breath, like a sleeping creature, and all it’s viewers were tiptoeing around the scattered speakers dotted around the floor, almost as if they were afraid of waking it. It took the idea of sound and technology and made it into something that we, as humans, had to accommodate. I related to this concept through my own work and my intentions for it, therefore i spoke of John Wynne’s work on the day of my presentation.

I also thought about the DaDaists during the early 1920’s and how they would make fun of what was going on in the world around them during that time – the war. Their work was a revolt and protest against a pro – war state of mind, and I thought this was the perfect connection to what I aimed to achieve for my final piece.

 

Hugo Ball (left) and Tristan Tzara (Right, scene from ‘The Gas Heart’) during performances. I find it fascinating how the DaDaists literally made themselves into collages by wearing costumes made from typical artist materials, almost as if to distort or modify themselves. This idea of distorting, perhaps even making a fool of one’s self in the name of making a statement was what I found most inspiring, as my intention was to make the listener feel foolish whilst listening to my piece. I think I managed this as many of my peers stated that they automatically felt the urge to check their phone for notifications whilst listening to my piece.

I also liked the idea of creating some kind of score or visual aid to my soundpiece and I discovered the young Dutch graphic designer Jan Van Echelpoel who’s work was basically a study of sounds; using Adobe Illustrator he made drawings based on music, much like Wassilly Kandinsky did. Here are some examples of his work.

I think it is important to the note the simple yet dynamic and kinetic composition of the shapes and lines he created, one can at least imagine the kind of sound Echelpoel was trying to illustrate through this technique.

Based on the different sound layers of my final piece I did a quick painted version of what they looked like in Cubase. I like how child-like and playful it turned out. Also, I have acknowledged that by removing the sound and creating a visual representation of the order of each sound, it becomes a completely different piece of work all together.

………………………………..I should probably explain the importance of all the tinfoil.

On one hand I wanted some kind of cool presentation idea to have along side the soundpiece, simply to add to the experience. The main thing I focussed on that would connect those two senses was the buzzing of feedback/static that can be heard in my final piece. This was possibly the most important sound in the whole piece as I wanted the listener to not only hear but feel what was going on in my head when making this. I am what is known to be ‘radio sensitive’ which by my knowledge means that I get an uncomfortable and very unsettling tingling sensation around my head and back when I am in the line of some kind of radio wave or signal of some kind. Not many people feel it, but I believe if they did they would not feel so comfortable using their phone as often as we do in day to day life. I was told by a physics teacher at school that a way to deflect it was to wear a tinfoil hat. I tried it, not sure if it worked, probably because I would need to wear it for a longer period of time in order to see results. Either way, I always felt silly wearing one. So I included a lot of tinfoil in the presentation of my sound piece, almost as if (in my fine art way of thinking) I was protecting the listener from whatever phone-sounds I had recorded for my work.

I thoroughly enjoyed making my idea come to life and am certainly considering working with sound in the future.