DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | I.C. Notebooks 1 | ""A perceptive look at 'Incident Light'"" by Shelley Shakas

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""A perceptive look at 'Incident Light'"" by Shelley Shakas

A perceptive look at "Incident Light" 

There appear to be two currents of interests in inter-disciplinary work. One deals with Wagnerian effects caused by the inter-play of several of the arts and senses. 
This was seen in Larry Austin's presentation of last week, in which a sonic environment was created by the multiplication of sensory input. 
The other approach is more reductive in that it isolates a particular sense and concentrates on the dynamics of it, for example, the visual process as in "Incident Light"
It is clear that both approaches involve an interest in new theories of perception; the re-evaluation of our perceptual habits. However, rather than formulating an environment,"Incident Light" utilized an existing park setting in an effort to heighten awareness of the environment through the presence of the arts events. The relationship between the art events and the surroundings was visually dialectical.
Darkness and free-form organization of events made the "incident" easy to accept. Also, darkness tends to upset our perceptual modes and forces us to recognize the foibles of linear or perspective cognition. The psychology of perception bases principles of perceptual constancy, such as size and motion, within the framework of linear perspective system. However, all of the events Friday night operated outside the context of linear perspective by establishing situations in which this approach was impossible or inadequate to visually comprehend the events presented. This was elicited by careful design by the artists impressively seen in Tom Macaulay's "Phantom Truck"
We have all experienced "highway" or night vision and realize that darkness intensifies perceptual inconstancies. Macaulay's "Truck" was a complicated evocation of this phenomenon. The "truck" consisted of strategically located lights in truck pattern with a gear grinding engine sound, made very effective by a background wall. Light placement was such that it was difficult to ascertain if the truck were "traveling" head on or turning.
The juxtaposition of the truck in a park situation dramatized perceptual inconstancy; the problem of discrimination. 
"Picnic in Shelter 3" by Franklin Miller was perhaps perceptually the most sophisticated and complex event of the evening. It was composed of a picnic shelter filled with "smoke" with yellow lights placed at regular intervals in each table. 
The "smoke" made us aware of the linear frame quality of the building by comparison as gas has no dimension but only wight or density. This was further complicated by the yellow lights which, although we "knew that they were placed at varying distances, only seems to enhance the gaseous interior, as they appeared to float. Size and distance discrimination became non-functional because the smoke environment lacked linear of perspective visual cues. Thus, rather than marking off distance in the shelter, the lights assumed an all-over pattern effect. Therefore, the viewer observed an inter-play of several perceptual systems. 
"Fire on Water" emitted the Jungian archetypal as per an Ortega quote: Parker's event had ecological implications more concerned conceptually than perceptually. 
"Incident Light" events were cleverly and soundly conceived to create some visual problem for the viewer. This visual habits were challenged. The general effect was a heightened sensitivity to the point that silhouettes of people, passing car lights, a lone parked car, became unintended aesthetic candidates. Comments as "is that another one?" were frequent among viewers. The result was the realization that there are many ways we can perceive some not even learned yet. And, as in everything else, this illustrates how our own craving for the absolute can affect the manner in which we view the world. 

- Shelley Shakas
Daily Iowan Arts Critic

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A perceptive look at "Incident Light" There appear to be two currents of interests in inter-disciplinary work. One deals with Wagnerian effects caused by the inter-play of several of the arts and senses. This was seen in Larry Austin's presentation of last week, in which a sonic environment was created by the multiplication of sensory input. The other approach is more reductive in that it isolates a particular sense and concentrates on the dynamics of it, for example, the visual process as in "Incident Light" It is clear that both approaches involve an interest in new theories of perception; the re-evaluation of our perceptual habits. However, rather than formulating an environment,"Incident Light" utilized an existing park setting in an effort to heighten awareness of the environment through the presence of the arts events. The relationship between the art events and the surroundings was visually dialectical. Darkness and free-form organization of events made the "incident" easy to accept. Also, darkness tends to upset our perceptual modes and forces us to recognize the foibles of linear or perspective cognition. The psychology of perception bases principles of perceptual constancy, such as size and motion, within the framework of linear perspective system. However, all of the events Friday night operated outside the context of linear perspective by establishing situations in which this approach was impossible or inadequate to visually comprehend the events presented. This was elicited by careful design by the artists impressively seen in Tom Macaulay's "Phantom Truck" We have all experienced "highway" or night vision and realize that darkness intensifies perceptual inconstancies. Macaulay's "Truck" was a complicated evocation of this phenomenon. The "truck" consisted of strategically located lights in truck pattern with a gear grinding engine sound, made very effective by a background wall. Light placement was such that it was difficult to ascertain if the truck were "traveling" head on or turning. The juxtaposition of the truck in a park situation dramatized perceptual inconstancy; the problem of discrimination. "Picnic in Shelter 3" by Franklin Miller was perhaps perceptually the most sophisticated and complex event of the evening. It was composed of a picnic shelter filled with "smoke" with yellow lights placed at regular intervals in each table. The "smoke" made us aware of the linear frame quality of the building by comparison as gas has no dimension but only wight or density. This was further complicated by the yellow lights which, although we "knew that they were placed at varying distances, only seems to enhance the gaseous interior, as they appeared to float. Size and distance discrimination became non-functional because the smoke environment lacked linear of perspective visual cues. Thus, rather than marking off distance in the shelter, the lights assumed an all-over pattern effect. Therefore, the viewer observed an inter-play of several perceptual systems. "Fire on Water" emitted the Jungian archetypal as per an Ortega quote: Parker's event had ecological implications more concerned conceptually than perceptually. "Incident Light" events were cleverly and soundly conceived to create some visual problem for the viewer. This visual habits were challenged. The general effect was a heightened sensitivity to the point that silhouettes of people, passing car lights, a lone parked car, became unintended aesthetic candidates. Comments as "is that another one?" were frequent among viewers. The result was the realization that there are many ways we can perceive some not even learned yet. And, as in everything else, this illustrates how our own craving for the absolute can affect the manner in which we view the world. - Shelley Shakas Daily Iowan Arts Critic