Tesla Event at UCL: Dr Brigitta Zics - How to think about Art and Design in the Age of Consciousness Research
UCL Contact: Gordana Novakovic (Visitors from outside UCL please email in advance).
Thursday, 29 April, 18:00 – 19:00
University College London
Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT
Garwood Lecture Theatre, South Wing
Abstract
This presentation provides an overview of the critical thinking in some creative practices through the study of consciousness. It argues that technology has brought such qualities and capacities to aesthetical production and meaning creation which might only be extractable through the understanding of the human factor in these experiences. The presentation proceeds from the assumption that philosophical accounts of consciousness and recent multidisciplinary approaches to cognition have provided valuable perspectives in the understanding of human aspects in the man-computer interrelationship and will develop this position in order to understand consciousness research as an aesthetic inquiry.
To illustrate this, the model of Transparent Act will be introduced as a paradigm that detaches itself from previous aesthetic models and argues for a novel philosophical conceptualisation of technology mediated creation. A consequence of such an approach is to bring design and artistic strategies to the same platform and, as it is will be argued, introduces a radical approach to creative production. As a practical example the presentation will introduce a discussion of the large scale interactive installation of Mind Cupola which aims to apply the approaches represent in Transparent Act and suggest new ways of meaning production through biofeedback interface.
more info:
http://www-typo3.cs.ucl.ac.uk/research/tesla/how_to_think_about_art_and_design_in_the_age_of_consciousness/
http://tesla-ucl.blogspot.com/2010/04/dr-brigitta-zics-artist-media.html
Web-site: http://www.trans-techresearch.net/?page_id=26, www.zics.eu
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Tesla Event at UCL: Dr Brigitta Zics - How to think about Art and Design in the Age of Consciousness Research
1.
2. How
to
think
about
Art
and
Design
in
the
Age
of
Consciousness
Research
Dr.
Brigi:a
Zics
Transtechnology
Research
University
of
Wales
Newport
Room
B321
Portland
Square
School
of
Art,
Media
and
Design
University
of
Plymouth
Room
J
14
Caerleon
Campus
Drake
Circus
Lodge
Road,
Caerleon
Plymouth
Newport
PL4
8AA
NP18
3QT
3. Technology
art
interacLon
technology-‐based
art
passive
interacLon
arLst-‐spectator
Immediacy
meaning
creaLon
human-‐machine
acLve
spectatorship
cogniLve-‐based
invisiblity
transparency
consciousness
body-‐mind
nexus
embodied
knowledge
phenomenology
mastering
the
tool
knowledge-‐seeking
transdisciplinary
biofeedback
eye-‐tracking
cogniLve-‐feedback
loop
Transparent
Act
4. The
Problem
How
Technology
as
CreaLon
Process
j
and
Technology
as
Art
(
&
Design)
understood
in
contemporary
literature,
InsLtuLons
and
among
pracLLoners?
10. Technology
brought
radical
change
to
creaLon
processes…
Challenging
old
form
of
disciplines
and
insLtuLons
11. DualisLc
Strategies
loose
their
Validity
ART
DESIGN
ART
TECHNOLOGY
ART
SCIENCE
ART
RESEARCH
ART
IN
MUSEUM
TECHNOLOGY
IN
EVERYDAY
LIFE
12. Technology
Transdisciplinarity
‘…transdisciplinarity
concerns
that
which
is
at
once
between
the
disciplines,
across
the
different
disciplines,
and
beyond
all
discipline.
Its
goal
is
the
understanding
of
the
present
world
,
of
which
one
of
the
imperaLves
is
the
unity
of
knowledge.’
(Nicolescu
1997,
np.)
Arts
Technology
Philosophy
Psychology
Sciences
13. Applying
Technology
not
as
Science
Technology
How philosophy might help us practicioners to
implement technology in a way that is different to
the scientific modality?
rejecting the assumption that as technology
emerged through a scientific validation process
therefore it only applicable effectively in this
context.
14. Technology
Recovering
New
QualiLes
Technology
of
Human
Experience
Interactive technology introduces a new potentiality
to art, or possibly art uncovers unforeseen
potentials…
The means of aesthetic enquiry might, in this
context, reveal or recover yet unknown or forgotten
qualities of human condition and experience.
15. Technology:
The
Radical
Change
to
CreaLon
Processes
• Dynamicity
• ArLst
–
Spectator
relaLonship
became:
Human
–
Computer
relaLonship
• Thinking
about
Experience
differently
• AestheLcs
based
on
human
acLon
17. RevisiLng
DualisLc
Concepts
of
Philosophy:
• Invisible-‐Visible
• Ready-‐to-‐hand
–
Present-‐to-‐hand
(Heidegger,
1927)
• Technology
as
funcLon
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
•
ArLst
-‐
Spectator
• Body
–
Mind
18. Philosophy
of
Technology
Heidegger’s
‘ Tool’
as
Technology
Invisibility
and
Visibility
ready-‐at-‐handiness
present-‐at-‐handiness
where
the
user
is
describe
situaLons
already
a
master
of
where
a
person
the
tool
afends
directly
to
the
object
with
conscious
intent
INVISIBILITY
VISIBILITY
19. Heidegger’s
‘ Tool’
in
ApplicaLon
Invisibility
and
Visibility
ready-‐at-‐handiness
present-‐at-‐handiness
where
the
user
is
describe
situaLons
already
a
master
of
where
a
person
the
tool
afends
directly
to
the
object
with
conscious
intent
TECHNOLOGY
AS
TECHNOLOGY
AS
FUNCTION
MEANING
BUT
NOT
AS
FAILED
FUNCTION
20. ‘present-‐at-‐hand’
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
‘ARTISTIC
CONTENT
SEEKING’
(Meaning
CreaLon)
Acquiring
Knowledge
through
AestheLcs
‘ready-‐to-‐hand’
–
Technology
as
FuncLon
‘MASTERING
THE
INTERFACE’
Acquiring
FuncLonal
Knowledge
21. ‘present-‐at-‐hand’
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
Meaning creation here refers to process of the spectator interaction with
the artwork which creates new meaning. ’Exploring the meaning of the
interface itself’ (Rokeby 1995, p.133)
Rorschach Test
As Umberto Eco described meaning in his crucial work Open Work (1989)
it is not a ‘content’ or message’ but it is the artist’s anticipation of multiple
engagement of the spectator.
22. ‘ready-‐to-‐hand’
–
Technology
as
FuncLon
‘MASTERING
THE
INTERFACE’
Acquiring
FuncLonal
Knowledge
Known as Design Approach:
The learning process of the the technological tool.
The aim is to achieve interactions affording
continuous and immersive states.
23. Going
beyond
Heidegger’s
concept:
Invisibility
Versus
Transparency
It
could
be
suggested,
that
a
disLncLon
can
be
made
between
facilitaLng
a
stage
between
the
purely
invisible
and
visible
stages
of
interacLon,
through
understanding
the
interacLve
process
as
levels
of
transparency
(Zics
2008)
Visibility
Visibility
24. Transparent
Technology
meaning production
transparency
interface
man
mastering the tool
Transparency
in
the
human
–
technology
relaLonship
could
be
considered
as
an
oscillaLng
process
where
the
arLst
allows
interacLons
that
are
in
a
constant
state
of
flux
between
reflecLon
and
pellucidity.
25. Transparent
Technology
.
This
implies
that
these
interfaces
incorporates
a
reflecLon
process
(being
visible)
as
a
meaning
creaEon
into
the
interacLon,
favouring
a
learning
process
of
the
user
to
inhabit
novel
meaning.
meaning production
mastering the tool
26. Transparency
ArLst
–
Spectator
RelaLonship
ApplicaLon
of
transparency
implies
to
produce
an
immediacy
between
the
arLst
and
spectator
producing
novel
knowledge
for
the
spectator.
The
creaLon
process
(
arLst)
and
experience
process
(spectator)
becomes
one
cogniLve
flow.
spectator
artist
27. The
Transparent
Act
The productive cognitive act of mastering the tool
.
(immersion) and meaning creation (reflection)
anticipated by the artist with an outcome of
novel knowledge production.
• The aestheticisation of the artist-spectator relationship
• Level of transparency’ relates to successful
cognitive interconnections between artist and spectator
reflection
TRANS-PARENT
TRANS-DISCIPLINARY
immersion
28. Transparency
produce
a
soluLon
to
the
dualisLc
qualiLes
of
• Invisible-‐Visible
• Ready-‐to-‐hand
–
Present-‐to-‐hand
(Heidegger,
1927)
• Technology
as
funcLon
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
• ArLst
-‐
Spectator
Body
–
Mind
29. Body
–
Mind
relates
to
the
qualiEes
of
material
and
immaterial
and
the
quality
of
their
interconnecLon
30. Body
–
Mind
the
body-‐mind
nexus
operate
as
an
aestheLc
tool
in
the
design
of
spectator’s
experience
31. Technology-‐based
Art
J. Gibson (1950) Luc Desnoyers (2008)
Original by Ernst Mach’s (1897)
Alva Noë (2001) suggests: Art might not only re-produce an idealistic
representation of a room but rather demonstrate the sensation of “being
in the room“.
32. Art
Works
Considering
Body-‐Mind
Nexus
Peter Weibel
Julius von Bismarck
Peter Weibel
Joachim Sauter & Dirk Luesebrink
BIOS team Alvin Lucier
Click
on
the
pictures
Shawn Lawson & Wafaa Bilal Takehito Etani
Nam June Paik Gordon Pask
33. The
Mind
Cupola,
An
AffecLve
Environment
AffecLve/AffecLon
Biofeedback
Technology
CogniLve
Feedback
Loop
Passive
InteracLon
(
or
AffecLve
InteracLon)
34. Affect/
AffecLon
…either word denotes a personal feeling (sentiment in Deleuze and Guattai).
….an ability to affect and be affected. It is a prepersonal intensity
corresponding to the passage from one experiential state of the body to
another and implying an augmentation or diminution in that body’s capacity to
act. (Massumi on Deleuze and Guattai 1987, xvii)
35. Affect/
AffecLon
Applying Affection in Creation Process:
…way of anticipating the spectator’s cognitive reactions and setting
up a bodily semantics and aesthetics for each interaction.
36. ‘present-‐at-‐hand’
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
‘MEANING
CREATION’
–
REFLECTION
ACTIONS PREDICT NEW MEANINGS
If we understand the
‘mastering the interface’
processes as producing
new meaning through
particular body states we
might find a more effective
way of interaction.
‘ready-‐to-‐hand’
–
Technology
as
FuncLon
‘MASTERING THE INTERFACE’ - INVISIBILITY
INHABITED ACTIONS of the BODY
37. Transparent
Act
in
the
Mind
Cupola
The
success
of
the
mastering
of
the
interface
is
based
on
the
success
of
the
arLst
in
implemenLng
the
cogniLve
qualiLes
(‘AFFECTIONS’)
of
the
user
in
such
a
way
that
the
technological
engagements
become
embodied,
producing
new
knowledge.
38. Affective Technology:
Biofeedback interface
Interaction:
through cognitively inclusive
sensorimotor
capacities of the user
Cognitive-driven Interaction:
self-regulating processes
In the user’s experience
39. Biofeedback
ApplicaLon
for
InteracLon
Producing
Aesthe7c
Experiences
Laura Colmenares Guerra - Lungs: The Breather 2008 Christa Sommerer & Laurent Mignonneau: Mobile Feelings
2002/03
These artistic works
investigated the
interconnection between
cognitive processes and
aesthetic meaning production
BIOS - Bidirectional Input/Output System 2002/03 Andrea Polli: Intuitive Ocusonics, Eye-driven sound interface
Bioofeedback Art Archive on MediaArt 1998
Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C51BC89CDE587C1F
40. Biofeedback
and
InteracLon
Measuring
bodily
funcLons:
facial
expression
EEG
for
brain
acLvity
ECG
for
heart
rate
EMG
for
electrical
discharge
in
the
muscle
fibres
eye-‐tracking
EOG
for
the
resLng
potenLal
of
the
reLna
GSR
for
electrical
qualiLes
of
the
skin
Meaning Production:
Evaluating the Cognitive Qualities of the Spectator
41. Passive Interaction>< Active Interaction
video: http://www.vimeo.com/7062293
Examples of Active Interaction:
Iwai Toshio, Nishibori Ty: Tenori-On 2005
Brigitta Zics - Mirror_SPACE 2004/05
ACTIVE INTERACTION: Bodily Controlled
Interface; full body immersion, active bodily
motion. tangible interfaces
PASSIVE INTERACTION: Cognitive
Response Evaluation of the Spectator
Digital Luthiers: Reactable, 2003/05 Squidsoup - Driftnet, Responsive Environnent 2007
42. Passive
InteracLon
Passive
InteracEon
refer
to
interacLon
that
acLvate
parLcluar
body-‐awareness
of
the
sepcectators;
it
applies
affecLve
bodily
responses
as
meaning
creaLon.
The
terminology
is
used
to
diffrenLate
art
works
from
acLve
interacLon
that
uses
tangible
or
full
body
interfaces)
since
passive
interacLon
parLcularly
intersted
in
the
cogniLve
responses
and
their
evaulaLon
of
the
spectator.
Technological
applicaLons
are
affecLve
compuLng
or
instant
affecLon
technologies.
43. The
Mind
Cupola:
Passive
InteracLon
Users
are
invited
to
step
into
the
The
interacLon
process
fluctuates
immersive
surroundings
and
between
the
natural
reacEons
of
relax.
facial
and
eye
movement
and
controlled
responses
through
which
the
user
learns
to
produce
meaning.
44. The
Mind
Cupola
interface
is
formed
of
three
interconnected
systems:
• a
biofeedback
percepLve
system
(face/eye
capture
system)
–AffecLve
compuLng
•
a
frequency-‐generaLng
affecLve
system
–
Instant
affecLon
technologies
•
real-‐Lme
visualisaLon
/
digital
readout
–
AffecLve
visualisaLon
45. Passive
InteracLon
Self-‐reflecLve
Process
Meaning
The
Transparent
Act
is
a
result
of
self-‐reflecLve
process
when
the
user
re-‐evaluates
his/her
knowledge
of
‘being-‐in
the-‐world’
afaching
new
meaning
to
it.
through
self-‐reflecLon
the
user
might
start
to
act
against
his/her
embodied
acLons
This
new
meaning
producEon:
fluctuates
with
the
insLnct
and
unconscious
acLons
of
human
acLon
which
helps
to
maintain
the
cogniLve
flow
in
the
interacLon.
46. CogniLve
Feedback
Loop
InterconnecLng
AffecLve
CompuLng
(monitoring
the
user)
with
Instant
AffecLon
technologies
(affecLng
the
user)
to
subject
the
parLcipant
to
intenLonal
decisions
to
operate
the
system.
47. 1.
AffecLve
CompuLng
AffecLve
compuLng
invesLgates
the
relaEonship
between
emoEon
and
cogniEve
processes
and
how
the
tracking
and
evaluaLon
of
this
informaLon
helps
to
produce
more
qualitaEve
interacEons
between
human
and
machine.
(Picard
2000)
Mainly
focuses
on:
facial
qualiEes
and
how
parLcular
affecLons
reflect
on
the
facial
physiology
Customized Open Source Eye-
tracking System Track Eye v2.0
49. AffecLve
VisualisaLon
through
Eye-‐tracking
• The
visualisaLon
engages
the
user
with
percepEve
affecEon
that
requires
both
insLnctual
and
conscious
control
to
form
a
relaLonship
through
interacLon.
• Whilst
the
user
might
look
for
hidden
messages
on
the
display
by
using
the
gaze
of
their
eyes
as
a
control
mechanism,
at
the
same
Lme
they
change
their
environment
through
the
behavioural
analysis
of
the
system.
51. SemanLcs
-‐
E-‐Trans
Board
Applied
by
Paralyzed
People
as
CommunicaLon
Device
E-‐Trans
comprises
a
sheet
of
perspex
a
bit
bigger
than
A4.
Lefers
of
the
alphabet
are
grouped
in
each
corner
of
the
board.
Within
each
corner
group,
all
the
lefers
are
a
different
colour.
There
are
also
six
coloured
blobs
arranged
around
the
board.
Source:
hfp://www.eyelife.org/
52. SemanLcs
of
ImaginaLon
New
Scien7st
describes
a
46-‐year-‐old
woman
who
was
totally
locked-‐in.
CommunicaLon
through
measuring
the
pH
of
saliva.
They
trained
the
woman
to
change
the
acidity
of
her
spit
by
imagining
either
the
taste
of
lemon,
or
the
taste
of
milk.
She
learned
to
push
the
pH
one
way
to
say
"yes",
the
other
to
say
"no".’
53. 2.
Instant
AffecLon
Technologies
are
Technologies
that
affect
the
spectator's
cogniLon
instantly
as
a
response
(
by
meaning
creaLon)
to
their
interacLon
with
the
system
Electromagnetic Devices:
Sound,
Vibration,
Radiations,
Mechanical Vibrations
and Affective Visualisation System
Instant Cognitive Affection of the User
54. AffecLve
Environment
These affection
devices generate a
spectrum of
electromagnetic
frequencies of
sound, hot and cold
stream and visual
affects to guide the
person towards an
optimal experience.
An amplification of
everyday affection of
environment of
human cognitive
faculties
55. Passive
InteracLon
as
CogniLve
Feedback
Loop
The
mastering
of
the
Mind
Cupola
implies
that
the
user
learns
and
lives
the
rules
of
interacLon
that
is
built
upon
the
percepEve/a:enEve
qualiLes
and
thermodynamic/electromagneEc
qualiLes
of
the
body,
through
which
they
have
the
potenLal
to
control
their
own
responses.
The
system,
is
based
on
behavioural
analysis
and
the
thermodynamic
features,
afempt
to
balance
the
user’s
response
with
heaEng
and
cooling
his/
her
face.
56.
57. New Applications: Enhancing Well-being
Mind Cupola offers a radical knowledge practice acting through bodily
capacities that establish a heuristic quality to learning.
As this kind of passive interactions produce new embodied knowledge with
increase of psychophysical control of the body, they might provide potential
therapeutic and health-promotion applications which provides a main
objective of future research into biofeedback art
58. TRANSDISCIPLANRY
SOLUTION:
situated
at
the
intersecLon
of
art
&
design,
arLficial
intelligence
and
consciousness
studies.
APPLICATION
in
NEW
DESCIPLINES:
providing
a
learning
process
that
evaluates
and
afends
to
the
level
of
cogniLve
immersion
and
stress
on
the
user
and
alters
levels
of
affecLon
accordingly.
Although
the
Mind
Cupola
was
formulated
on
the
basis
of
being
an
arEsEc
intervenEon
as
opposed
to
a
‘designed’
purpose
as
a
transdispilnary
soluLon
provide
new
insights
in
Design,
Science
and
Philosophy.
59. Produced
a
SoluLon
to
• Invisible-‐Visible
• Ready-‐to-‐hand
–
Present-‐to-‐hand
• (Heidegger,
1927)
• Technology
as
funcLon
-‐
Technology
as
Meaning
•
Body
–
Mind
• ArLst
-‐
Spectator
60. DualisLc
Strategies
loose
their
Validity
Transdisciplinarity
ART
DESIGN
ART
TECHNOLOGY
ART
SCIENCE
ART
RESEARCH
ART
IN
MUSEUM
TECHNOLOGY
IN
EVERYDAY
LIFE
61. TRANS-PARENT
TRANS-DISCIPLINARY
Technology
brought
all
disciplines
to
the
same
plaVorm.
Understanding
Technology
Consciousness
Research
All
PlaVorms
and
Disciplines
can
benefit
from
Consciousness
Research.
Current
PracLces
challenging
the
boundaries
of
disciplines,
approaches,
modaliLes
and
ideologies.
Call
for
the
need
of
a
re-‐evaluaLon
of
insLtuLonal
formats
and
plaVorms.