Where does tangible reality end and where does the boundless realm of our imagination begin? Within the installation Lichtgang we play with the phenomenon of “afterimage”. Step inside a mini-cinema where visual perception is central. It is so dark that it does not matter whether your eyes are open or closed.
Starting with a canvas of pure darkness, a circle of light awakens from this shadow, carefully timed to give the colorful afterimage an unprecedented intensity. You are invited to keep looking straight into the circle of light and surrender to the play of colors created in the darkness.
What is “reality”? Is it what we see and perceive, or what we make of it? Lichtgang is a hallucinatory experience, an abstract film that takes place largely inside your own eyes. In the enigmatic interplay of perception and reality, our brain balances on the thin line of interpretation. Lichtgang reveals this field of tension as a fascinating dance of light and shadow, real and imagined, seen and interpreted. Get carried away on this visual journey that plays with the boundaries of perception and reality.
We use our eyes as windows on the outside world. But the image we perceive, is completed by the brain. The process starts when beams of light reach our retina, which sends a signal to the brain. There, the light is converted into images we understand and recognize. This wondrous (re)construction takes place largely outside our conscious mind. For instance, images reach our retina upside down, but we see them straight because the brain reconstructs the image. Films, which consist of 24 still images per second, are perceived as seamless, fluid movement. This ‘construction process’ of our perception can stay active even when there is nothing more to see.
In the coming years Schweigman& and performance artist Johannes Bellinkx will take you on a nomadic journey that will touch down at festivals and locations. And past installations that each play with perception in their own way. Lichtgang is the first stop. Travel with them past the installations and to the final destination, House of the Senses; which will become a permanent meeting place and expertise center for embodied perception.
Feel welcome at the PrikkelTalk, where Boukje Schweigman delves deeper into the phenomenon of sensory processing, at both physiological and socio-cultural levels.
Awards
- Ton Lutz regieprijs, VSCD Mimeprijs (meerdere malen)
