The project I’m working on now is about perception and memory. When I was doing research for my work on quantum physics I came across a statement in one of the books I was reading that perhaps as much as 50% of what we “see” is in actuality not visual information that is conveyed to the brain through the optic nerve but based on our expectations. What? I was flabbergasted by this. If our sense of reality is largely informed by our expectations, which are in themselves influenced by our memories, how in the world do we come to a consensus about what is real? Is there such as thing as a collective reality, and if so, how can it be explained? There is of course a lot of evidence that we perceive events differently – try and find eyewitness testimony that is consistent amongst several people.
But there is a great deal of agreement also – the earthquake and tsunami in Japan really did happen on March 11, despite what my expectations are I see the destruction in pictures and video. My own research on this topic has unearthed scores of examples of brain malfunctions that affect both perception and memory, but these are anomalies, not the norm.
But there is a great deal of agreement also – the earthquake and tsunami in Japan really did happen on March 11, despite what my expectations are I see the destruction in pictures and video. My own research on this topic has unearthed scores of examples of brain malfunctions that affect both perception and memory, but these are anomalies, not the norm.
I visit galleries whenever I can, and found an artist, Gwen Samuels, who I knew I wanted to work with at some point. Gwen’s work examines clothing as identity and I thought it would be perfect for this dance because we have so many associations with clothing affecting both our perception and memory. My first caveat then is that costuming will affect how an audience perceives and interprets the movement and the dancers.
If a woman in a slinky nightgown does distorted, percussive movement, does it color how an audience sees it? If gender clothing is switched but a scenario of a man abusing a woman is played out, does the clothing influence how the scene is interpreted? If a movement sequence is performed with the dancers fully clothed and then performed again with the dancers almost nude does that change how the movement is read?
If a woman in a slinky nightgown does distorted, percussive movement, does it color how an audience sees it? If gender clothing is switched but a scenario of a man abusing a woman is played out, does the clothing influence how the scene is interpreted? If a movement sequence is performed with the dancers fully clothed and then performed again with the dancers almost nude does that change how the movement is read?
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