Page 24 - Nihil Alchemia CRUCIBLE Issue One MAY 2020 Flip Book
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Internationally-acclaimed American video artist
Synaesthesia builds up while texts, and sounds are necessary Bill Viola has experimented with fine art for over
being in the presence of a distinct for the individual’s personal use four decades, and he was able to reach out to
his viewers by transfiguration. Through distortion,
sight, taste, odour, sound, and because achieving a meditative motion, and physical transformation, his subjects
texture that remind us of a past state doesn’t happen immediately. appear to be living in their own metaphors, which
experience. Even reading words Synaesthesia is lost when technical are different from standard cinematography
can have a unique meaning to interruptions, like the absence of concepts of sequences and omnipresence.
a person and trigger sensation. a WiFi, impede from watching the The Passions (2000-03) is an assemblage of
The physiological phenomenon is video in its intended sequence. contracting faces presented in asynchronous
referred to as ASMR or autonomous groups and individualized, respectively, to create
sensory meridian response. While the precept of meditation is distinct vibrations enough to stir the viewer. The
Apparently it starts from the head to be free from thoughts, isolation Martyrs (2014), in London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral,
attempts to resonate martyrdom to modern-day
travelling down to a sensitive part doesn’t always facilitate that. visitors by showing subjects who are suffering
of our body. This is the beauty of Videos have the interactive, but defiant from natural ‘tortures’. Viola’s art
science. multi-layering, and replay was a breakthrough in the video medium as it
capability to introduce strange has captured meditative qualities of the human
Since meditation is concerned and familiar contexts. They are experience.
with conserving energy or healing windows or portals to world views
of the mind, a media device can that challenge our current state However you look at it, art, media, and technology
help the viewer deduce one or of mind. Moving images are continues to push through the fabric of personal
space in pursuit of intimacy. This is called the art
two senses so he can concentrate released from the confines of their of ‘tunnelling’ where a mediated guide attempts
on those. We already do this with frames, and the person meditating to induce the individual into meditation with
our phones, books, and in-flight creates a whole new experience little cognitive effort. We’re not talking about a
entertainment. It sits in the grey — a gestalt of the truthful present sequence of instructions but a takeover of the
area between leisure and rest — and the ideal vision. Sensorial senses. Art spaces have successfully produced
you’d want to follow the ball rolling perception becomes more than such environment where no human assistance is
but prefer to learn (or learn from) it a bodily condition; transfiguration needed. And it’s only a matter of time before the
rather than chase it. The delicate takes form. world is introduced to an outlet popular enough
to change the zeitgeist. So long as mindfulness
framing and editing of images, is practiced over consumption, experiencing the
moment can never be shattered.
