Fig. 1: Vanessa Casal-Dominguez, Untitled, 2009. Painting on carved MDF. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Graham Coulter-Smith: Vanessa could you tell us the background to the works we are illustrating here?

Vanessa Casal-Dominguez: They stem from my experience of climbing mountains. The very first time that I started climbing we went walking up Scafell Pike, the highest mountain in England. It was a hard climb and when we were getting halfway up the mountain it became steeper almost vertical, and I tripped a few times, then we had to begin climbing rather than walking.

GCS: Did you have climbing gear?

VCD: No, because we didn’t know it would be so steep. So we went to one behind the other, some of us had experienced climbing and so there was some help. When we got to the top we had a rest. It was a cloudy day and was still cloudy when we reached the top which was a shame because from that high view we could have seen everything around us. But when we started coming down the sky opened up and we could see the lake, the mountains and the greenery.

GCS: You told me last semester that climbing Scafell you had a sense of impending death, was that through fear?

VCD: It was joy and fear and adrenaline all in one. It was a mixture of emotions I had never experienced before. I felt more alive than ever before when I was up there.

GCS: So could you tell us about the work illustrated here (Fig. 1)?

VCD: Before that painting (Fig. 1), which is on carved MDF, I produced some paintings on canvas about the experience of climbing and when I did that I felt like I was in the painting. I felt like the painting was part of me. So from that experience I decided to develop the painting process further by carving on MDF in order to convey the brutal lines of what I was climbing up, and tripping over stones. I was just trying to express what I felt because it was hard, it was exciting, and it was an overwhelming sense of achievement when we got up to the top.  And so all the paintings in this series have a great significance to me.

GCS: Why is it painted in greyscale?

VCD: Because of the day, it was cloudy. It probably looks quite depressing but for me it is not. The whiteness brings it out of that.

GCS: What about the next version (Fig. 2)?

Fig. 2: Vanessa Casal-Dominguez, Untitled, 2009. Painting on vacuum formed plastic panels.

VCD: This shows the long landscape approach I am taking now in my paintings. It is painted vacuum formed plastic moulded onto a carving I made in balsa wood. It is more of an experiment because I didn’t like the effect of the plastic. But in my next work I am going back to using carved and painted MDF which will be in a very long line intended to be a large, “life-sized” experience. It will be so large, 8 x 4 foot, that it is going to be intimidating when the viewer comes in to the room.

GCS: So the viewer can either look at it from a distance or walk along it?

VCD: I want to exhibited in a way so that the viewer begins by seeing it from a distance. If they came in closer I don’t think it would have the same impact. I have tested the effect a number of times and I think this is the best way to present it. From a distance it is quite intimidating because you can see that it’s bigger than you and as you go up to it you will see it is a carving, so it will look like a physical landscape. I also find the process of carving quite therapeutic so everything about this artwork is a source of enjoyment for me.

GCS: How are you doing the carving?

VCD: I am using a small sander so some of the edges are rough and some of them are smooth like a landscape.

 
Fig. 3: Vanessa Casal-Dominguez, Untitled, 2009. Oil on canvas. Fig. 4: angled detail of Fig. 3 
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GCS: What about the completely grey painting (Figs. 3 and 4) is that about Scafell too?

VCD: No it’s referring to a big hill outside of Stoke-on-Trent called Cloud. It goes so high that you can walk up into the clouds if you get to the top. When I went the day was so miserable that I was sitting in the clouds and so this work is my way of expressing that experience. I also think the painting looks almost like water and when you get close you can see the fine white line blends at the end with the grey. I quite like that effect. My inspiration came from Monet’s Waterlilies. Another influence was Michal Rovner who took a photograph of the dead Sea with people floating in it. She altered the image and it almost looks as if they are dead but there is a entirely different story behind it: the people are simply enjoying themselves.

GCS So the monochrome may seem depressing but it is really a joyful experience?

VCD: That’s definitely part of it. Another inspiration came from Gerhard Richter who did a mass of paintings that were black and white. In one he just painted lines going down and liked that painting. Another influence is Mark Rothko’s black series. They look like they are black but they are not. it’s actually different shades of black, you have to look closely to see the difference. I went to his survey exhibition at Tate modern [in 2008], I actually went there twice. Looking at the work in reproduction and looking at these paintings in the flesh is completely different. He had a lot of problems and think he was trying to put them in his paintings to try and express himself. So the whole idea of me trying to express my climbing experience seems to have a link with that

GCS: You mean that you identified with Rothko’s monochrome paintings in a way that goes beyond the formal?

VCD: Yes I see beyond just the painting. The background to Rothko’s black series is that he was comissioned to produce works for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York. This is probably because his work was seen as decorative at the time. But he did not like being seen that way. So he wanted to annoy the people who went to the restaurant, which is why he did this really morbid series. I found that quite funny

GCS: Do you think that Richter also puts feelings into his work?

VCD: I saw a documentary on Richter they say that he said that he just liked to paint, that is the meaning behind it, he just enjoys doing it.

GCS: So it’s just pure process, does that relate to your work?

VCD: I like to think that my work has process as well: going from painting and developing into different types of material and scales. Yes, so my work is about process too.

GCS: But you are also trying to get over this idea of the experiences of climbing that you had.

VCD: Definitely, as well as being a process it also has much more meaning to me.

GCS: It is also related to a particular environment which you are trying to convey to the viewer, but you are also transposing it into something else. So the question arises if it stems from the experience of mountain climbing why have you begun using a long landscape format?

VCD: The long striped paintings are abstract landscapes about climbing Scafell and the reason why they are horizontal like landscape is because if these carved paintings were vertical they would look like a tree trunk and lose significance. So it’s important that it is horizontal like a landscape. I changed the concept of the original experience in order to convey that experience.

GCS. Returning to the theme of death which you touched upon in your experience on Scafell and references to Rovner and Rothko one can note that there is a certain melancholy inherent in the monochrome and greyscale which also relates to Richter who has treated some pretty melancholy themes such as Baader-Meinhof and the serial murder of nurses. Then the other reference of black and white is to photography which also relates to Richter. That seems to refer to another transposition in your work which takes the form of the angled photographs you take of your paintings. Why do you take those angled photographs?

  
Fig. 5 and 6: Vanessa Casal-Dominguez, photographs of carved paintings taken at angles
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VCD: I wanted to give a sense of scale and perspective.

GCS: So you are trying to get the idea of being up on the mountain

VCD: Yes

GCS: These perspectival photographs of your paintings become works of art in themselves and they can give a sense of vertigo that relates to your climbing. Would you also consider making a painting using that kind of perspective?

 
Fig. 7 Vanessa Casal-Dominguez, painting-in-progress, 2009. Fig. 8 angled photograph of Fig. 7.

VCD: If I had time I would but have got to think about the degree show, but it would be interesting to make a painting like the photographs. I also took other photographs like that of the grey woodcarving painting I am working on now (Fig. 7).  I found one photograph (Fig. 8) quite interesting because it looks like a long road. It reminded me of American films in which you see people driving in the desert and it just goes on forever. And there are so many directions and shades it looks mountain-like. It reminds me of the Alps or wind-blown snow.

GCS: Have you thought of combining the paintings with the photographs?

VCD: I am trying to do that now because I spent ages looking at the paintings and the photographs, comparing them and thinking about that.

GCS: The photography is especially effective on your MDF paintings because you do not get the canvas texture which gives the game away. The MDF paintings are more like a model which makes the photographs look as if you are photographing some kind of landscape. Do you prefer the photographs to the paintings?

VCD: I like the paintings best, but the photographs say something else.

GCS: You mentioned process, and what is interesting is that these paintings are also sculptural, and so you dealing with quite a few different forms: photography, painting and sculpture: lots of different transpositions of the same concept.

VCD: Absolutely because using these different medias can tell you something completely different about the same work.

Faculty of Arts, Media and Design; Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, 26 March 2009.

Celine Siani Djiakoua, Dust drawings and tissue paper collage, 2006. Derelict pottery factory, Stoke-on-Trent.
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Celine Siani Djiakoua, Untitled, 2006. Six metre diameter plaster circle covered with floor paint. Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.

Rectangular Dance–dance or exercise on the perimeter of a camera frame, 2008. Video installation in exhibition space window. Conjunction08 art festival, Stoke-on-Trent.  CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Celine Siani Djiakoua, Maquette for a work-in-progress, 2009.

Celine Siani Djiakoua’s official website: http://celinesianidjiakoua.blogspot.com/

Lorraine O’Neill, Untitled, 2009. Installation with projected image. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

In this piece I wanted to create the feeling of absence, the chair and the view of the window representing the space where someone has been sitting and has since vacated. The notion of time having passed is also something I wanted to evoke here, the use of the threadbare chair lending itself to remembrance of times gone by, the shabby material and dated pattern helping to add to the effect.

 
Lorraine O’Neill, Untitled, 2009.  LEFT: Installation with wall drawing RIGHT: Photographic source for wall drawing

By using the interplay of real objects and projections within a photographic image I wanted to create the illusion that someone had been looking out of the window, but the image is a photo of a projection of a photograph so there are layers working here. It was this tension between fantasy/fiction and reality that I wanted to play with, also the hinting at notions of memories as these things we often try to grasp even though they are not tangible and exist only in our own minds; and recording of events/situations that have passed.

This particular set up included other images, one being a black and white photograph of the staged window scene. This was placed in such a way that the remaining components of the window scene could be viewed from a distance in the same line of vision. The remaining parts of the scene being the chair and its shadow painted on the floor, and the line drawing of the net curtain on the wall.  Further along the wall facing the scene I boxed and framed a dead fly that I had taken from an actual window ledge which turns out to be the only ‘real’ part of the whole installation with all the other components acting as simulations of something else.

Lorraine O’Neill, Detail, Untitled, 2009. Installation with projected image

My Grandfather died recently and I am memorialising him in my art work. He had a garden bench and I reproduced it exactly half size as if it were a children’s bench. Benchs are commonly used as memorials and usually have “in loving memory”-type plaques. I have also made a plaque which has an engraved comment  but instead of “in loving memory” the comment on the plaque contains a childlike humour that reminds me of my grandfather. He was also obsessive and collected data on spreadsheets. For example he had a spreadsheet on which he ordered and sectioned to correspond with the different foods he had in the various drawers in his freezer. He also had a spreadsheet recording the deaths of people whom he knew.

I have now become the keeper of my grandfather’s lists and with my grandmother’s help I am carrying out the project of preserving the memories recorded in his list of deaths. But to celebrate my grandfather’s memory I want to do this in a way that reflects his sense of humour. The plaque on the bench contains a fragment taken from the death list which reads “went off with Berty Bland’s wife” which is lends a humourous dimension to the record of that person’s death. 

I placed the bench in a dark room creating an installation that gives it a sense of gravity and reflects the theme of death. But when the viewer goes up to the little child-like bench he or she reads something that is amusing rather than being grave.

Holly Sneezum, Done (detail showing plaque), 2009 CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 
LEFT Fig 1 Craig Hawkes Experiment 11, 2008. Paper silhouette in a dark room RIGHT James Turrell, Afrum-Proto, 1966. Corner projection (quartz halogen).

This paper will predominantly focus on discussing specific artworks from Dan Flavin and James Turrell, comparing their work with other artists and ultimately my own. In an attempt to explain and understand how the simple use of light can be art.

My ambition is for it to aid me with my studio practice and to find my own unique standpoint on the genre. I will closely examine how their work was made, the links between their artwork and mine, the visual perception, and take account of how their peers viewed their art. 

I will begin to look at a piece from my studio practice (fig.1) and compare it with a piece of artwork from Turrell’s Projection Series, Afrim-Proto (fig.2). James Turrell’s work has been described as a way of, “leading us into the fringes of perception. He shows us that with our culturally informed conventions of dealing with light and seeing we cannot make any headway in certain situations unless we begin to feel- even with our eyes.” (in Hausler, 2000, 63). This only begins to touch on the understanding behind his work which, in comparison to mine, was about experimenting with the idea of ‘painting with light’. The essence of my work involved using a lamp in a dark space and used a piece of paper as a silhouette. Placing these shapes in the corners of the room allowed me to generate new shapes with the one silhouette. Although there are similarities visually, the explanations couldn’t be further apart. As you can see in fig.2 Turrell has projected a rectangle in the corner of a room, which has produced a new shape. This gives the illusion that it is a three dimensional cube. Because of the use of geometrical shapes there can be judged to be a link with Donald Judd (fig.3). Furthermore both Turrell and Judd involve the architectural space with the artwork. 

Fig 3. Donald Judd, Untitled, 1966. Stainless steel and yellow Plexiglas, six 34 inch cubes.

And like Judd, Turrell is interested in the perception of the viewer; and this perception becomes a part of the work. Robert Morris was also interested in the viewers perception, as he understands, “One sees and immediately ‘believes’ that the pattern within one’s mind corresponds to the existential fact of the object. Belief in this sense is a kind of faith in spatial extension.” (in Dimarco, 2008). Where as Judd was interested in the object as an object, I understand that James Turrell’s use of light as art is about creating an illusion, or questioning perception. One can also make some interesting comparisons with this piece of work and that in fig.4.  

fig.4. James Turrell, My Brother’s Window, 1991, (open and closed)

This piece is about involving the viewer with the work, as Turrell explains, “ [I] dealt to a greater extent with the architecture of the space occupied by the viewer,” he also explains that his work is, “not hypothetical but actual.” (in Noever, 1998, 73). Which is a reference to my early understanding about creating an illusion in his work. In my opinion, his work is not just about the experience of the viewer but our physical relationship with light, he confirms, “… My work is on the relationship we have with light. You can feel the light with your body and when your eyes are open, your feeling goes out of the eye like a touch.” (in Hausler, 2000, 55). In fig.4 and fig.5 one may notice another visual similarity via the use of fluorescent tubes. It is also worthy of note that there is a lack of direct light from these tubes but instead a use of a glow generated by the tubes.

Fig.5. (click image to enlarge) Craig Hawkes, 2008, untitled 30. Fluorescent tube with coloured plastic sheet.  

Turrell describes this piece as a, “play with the viewer’s perception of space,” (in Noever, 1998, 73). I can identify a subtle link between my work and this statement. When entering the dark space in Fig.5 one has to initially simply adjust to their surroundings before they begin to figure out where the artwork is in the room. Both pieces of work however, provide a good argument that using a small amount of light or glow can be just as visually powerful as flooding a room with light, Turrell justifies, “the dimensionality of the physical limits of the space and the glow of the reflected light that permeates the entire room make the illusionistically worked, hypothetical space one with the room space.” (in Noever, 1998, 73). As a way of viewing Turrell’s art it is worth questioning the use of ‘darkness’. Apart from the practical and visual aspect that allows the artwork to be seen, why is it so prominent and in some cases required? One would expect that the darkness surrounding the work is equally important as the work? One reason for this could be, as Turrell said, “that only in relative darkness can our eyes really open and feel the space.” (in Hausler, 2000, 62). Jiri Svestka has a different take on how to view Turrell’s art, “they are not intended for contemplation, analysis, decoding or interpretation, but they represent only themselves and thus perception as such.” He continues to say, “they are works of art that should not be viewed from a distance, but machines through which perception itself can be examined.” (Svestka, 1992, 5)

 
Fig. 6. Fabrizio Corneli, 2002, ‘Funambolo,’ brass halogen, lamp and shadows

 Fabrizio Corneli is another artist that uses light as a medium. As you can see in fig.6 he doesn’t use the light directly but as a tool for his final piece and plays with the viewers perception with light and it’s shadow. Corneli finds links with light and thought and thus concludes that, “Rationality and light come together in sight, the sense that has most guided human intellectual development.” (in Barzel, 2005, 64). 

Donald Judd once said that, “it isn’t necessary for a work to have a lot of things to look at, to compare, to analyse one by one, to contemplate. The thing as a whole, it’s quality as a whole, is what is interesting. The main things are alone and are more intense, clear and powerful,” (in Meyer, 2000, 13). For me this statement is the most appropriate way of describing Dan Flavin’s art.

Fig.7, Dan Flavin, the diagonal of May 25, 1963 (to Robert Rosenblum) 1963. Cool white fluorescent light 1.244 cm [8 ft]

Fig.7 was the first of a series of instillations that just used fluorescent lights. This saw a change in the way the public view art in the gallery space into an experience where a viewer would cast a shadow from Flavin’s artwork and unintentionally become a part of it; an aspect of his art that has been the main influence on my work.

 
Fig.8. Craig Hawkes, 2008, untitled 14. Fluorescent tube with coloured plastic sheet. 

In fig.8 and fig.7 you will notice the similarities with the use of Fluorescent lights. If one were to look closer at the light in fig.8 they will notice how the glow stretches its physical boundaries, become aware of the coloured plastic sheets and recognise how they control the colour of the glow from the light but not effect the colour of its origin. This leads me to query why didn’t Flavin use other materials in his work? My understanding is that he wanted to eliminate unnecessary elements so the viewer would concentrate on the singular experience with the light, Dan Graham explains, “…Light is immediately present in all places; the sensation is optical and singular.” (In Goven, and Bell, 2004, 72). 

LEFT Fig.9. Dan Flavin, untitled, 1996. Installation view, Richmond Hall, Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, Long term installation. RIGHT Fig.10. Angela Bulloch, Progression of 8 Perverted Pixels. 8 plexiglas dmx modules

It is also possible to see the visual links between Flavin and Angela Bulloch’s (fig.9 & fig.10) use of colour. Bulloch’s work however, adds an extra geometrical depth behind the use of light. In fig.10 the box-like shapes combine with the use of light and shade to create unique shapes with differing levels of depth. Personally, I am intrigued by the reflection underneath the boxes as they add an extra visible plane, an extension of the shape. Via this use of light the shape makes a seamless transition from a hard edge design into a new realm of light and space that allows the viewer to make a connection with the shape without physically touching it, similar to Flavin’s lights.

Conclusion 
After looking at all these artists and considering their work it became apparent to me that the use of light is a mechanism for the artist’s vision. A vision that explores the relationship between the artwork and the viewer, whether this is a vision of perception or creating an illusion or perhaps it’s a case of eliminating any unnecessary entities to force a viewer to concentrate on the singular aspect of the piece. Although the artworks examined here may look similar visually, the ideas and processes are different. Overall this essay has sought to open up new ideas and a fresh understanding of light as art, furthermore it has helped me to understand and appreciate my own work as well as others.  My work involves the viewer in a visual experience that I have created; the viewer is the third person in a voyeuristic sense where they become a part of my experiments with light, they will unintentionally view my art as if they were, ‘looking over my shoulder’. The viewer will inevitably have a different perspective on my artwork; it then becomes an interaction and a constant interplay between the viewer and the artwork. Similar to Flavin, Judd and Turrell the viewer’s perception of the art becomes a part of the work.

REFERENCES
Barzel, Amnon (2005) Light Art. Traduco S.N.C. Italy,Skira

Dimarco, Heather (2008) ‘CVCS Perception and Knowledge Robert Morris’.Online Ressource acsessed December 2008 : http://heatherdimarco.wordpress.com/cvcs-perception-and-knowledge-robert-morris/

Govan, Michael and Bell, Tiffany (2004) Dan Flavin, ARetrospective, New York, Dia Art Foundation

Hausler, Wolfgang. (ed.) (2000). James Turrell, lighting a planet, Nielsen, Camilla, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, Hatje cantz verlag.

Meyer, James (2000) Minimalism, London, Phaidon

Noever, Peter (ed.) (1998)James Turrel, The Other Horizon, Brian Holmes, Marget Millischer, Werner Rappl, Claudia Spinner. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germeny, Hatje cantz verlag

Svestka, Jiri (ed) (1992) James Turrell, Perceptual Cells, Hugh Beyer, David Britt, barbara Fohrer, Gudrun Harms, Brigitte Kalthoff,Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, Edition Cantz

STUDIO HOT SPOT WALL CHART

Jordan Smart, Body Forms, 2009. Installation. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

 In the Body Forms installation I am exploring the relationship between body and space.  For this installation I began by making body prints and then drawing outlines of my own body which made me feel as if I was looking at someone else, which was a strange feeling.  I then drew outlines of other peoples’ bodies and cut out the paper inside the outline opening up the body image into space. I suspended the sheets in a room to create an installation. The idea is to arrange bodies in space and produce a sense of strangeness. The bodies are represented as space which emphasises their absence.

Can artists exploit the psychology of space? This is a central notion informing my installation art practice. What is the Psychology of space? The Psychology of space or as it is sometimes known as Psychogeography is “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals.”(Debord, 1955) it has also been described as “a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for exploring cities. Just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape.” (Hart, 2004)
 Psychogeography first came to light within the journal entitled Potlach, by Letterist International. The forerunner for what become known as unitary urbanism, psycogeography and the derive was Ivan Chtcheglov. Chtcheglov was born in Paris Of Russian Parents, the essay he wrote which marked the start of psychogeography was entitled Formulaire pour un urbanisme nouveau (Formulary for a New Urbanism) in 1958 at the age of 19. This essay was a great inspiration for the Letterist International and the Situationists International. Chtcheglov later tried to deconstruct the Eiffel Tower; he was arrested and committed to a Mental Hospital by his wife.

 In his essay Formulary for a New Urbanism, Chtcheglov stated “Architecture is the simplest means of articulating time and space, of modulating reality, of engendering dreams.”(Chtcheglov, 1953). The Situationists forced themselves into a certain system of interaction with their environment, finding contemporary architecture both physically and ideologically restrictive, combining with outside cultural influences creating an undertow. “Cities have a psychogeographical relief, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes which strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones”. (Knabb, 1995).
 The way I understand Psychogeography is it’s about understanding and exploring landscapes, Psychogeography is an act, an act of walking, drifting coming across finding and even changing. The Situationists used to navigate through the Harz Region in Germany using a map of London, trying somehow to break through to the other side, not knowing what’s coming up next.
 The Situationists used to create designs of new urbanized space, promising better opportunities for experimenting through mundane expression. Their intentions remained completely as abstractions. Debord’s main intention was to unify two different ambiences that he felt, determined the values of urban landscape. The soft ambience, i.e.: the light, sound, time and the association of ideas with the hard ambience which was the actual physical construction.

CLICK ON THUMBNAIL IMAGES FOR FULL-SCALE VIEW

Fig. i. Lewis Hughes-Evans, Untitled, 2008

Within my own art practice I create large scale architectural installations; I transform existing spaces with constructions made primarily from found objects. The spaces that I create are hideaways, built from an imagined person’s perspective. The narrative I create explore how a person becomes attached to a certain space, the atmospheres I create within these spaces reflect the way that these people feel within them, these constructions could be seen as physical representations of these “outsiders” mental states. 

In fig i (click on image for full size view) you can see my installation for Conjunction 08 an art festival for Stoke-on-Trent, this installation was for a shop space and the space I was allocated was a walkthrough space leading to a further piece at the back, I manipulated the way that people experienced my work by changing the way the viewers actually saw it, the hallway roof was lowered to five foot six inches forcing the majority of people to crouch as they walked through it whilst the side walls to the installation also got narrower meaning that the only way through was to crouch and turn sideways reflecting the un-comfort that the outsider felt whilst working in this space.

Fig. ii. Lewis Hughes-Evans, Untitled, 2008

My statement for this piece was as follows: “My world isn’t comfy it’s weird and broken confusing and things, it’s a little house thingy very rusty but I like it, very old, this is my world I can’t see yours”. A second view can be seen from fig ii.
 
I work intuitively within the space, allowing the physicality, and the history and the atmosphere of the space to inform my construction process.
 The artist Mike Nelson’s methods of production are very similar to mine, in the way that he uses materials from near the sites where his work is located to make a spontaneous response to the site. This causes a jarring in the viewer and perhaps references Freudian notions of the architectural uncanny. The viewer may have an emotional response to the site when viewing Nelson’s work and this to some extent reflects my intentions within my work.

LEFT TO RIGHT Fig iii, Fig vi, Fig v. Lewis Hughes-Evans, Untitled Wooden Installation, 2008.

 In fig iii, you can see a more recent installation and as before I have dealt with the ideas of manipulating the ways in which the viewer experiences my work. It consist of a front door as shown in fig iii, and behind is a fifteen foot long corridor which the height decreases the further down the corridor you go the corridor can be seen in fig iv. The corridor leads to an old fashioned school desk which contains all my studio work and my back up work which is an expression of how I feel when I have to study as a dyslexic. I find that aspect of my artwork a massive struggle and when I need to sit down and do my work I feel a little claustrophobic and that is what I have tried to capture within my installation by the tunnel getting narrower and narrower and also lower and lower as seen in Fig v.

My latest experiment 2009 consists of a rough wooden hut in a dark room. The hut has a strobe light inside it that blasts light between the uneven gaps between the planks that make up the hut. The viewer can look inside but the flickering light that emanates through the gaps in the planks also casts patterns on the ceiling and the wall. A video of the installation is shown below:

Lewis Hughes-Evans, Strobe Hut, 2009 from artphilosophy on Vimeo.

Bibliography

Debord, G, 1955. Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography. Les Levres Nues #6 1955, p1

Joseph Hart, “A New Way of Walking,” Utne Reader July/August 2004

Ivan Chtcheglov, Formulary for a New Urbanism, 1953 http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/Chtcheglov.htm

Knabb, Ken, ed. Situationist International Anthology, Berkley: Bureau of Public Secrets, 1995. pg 50.

The ‘content’ of the data in themselves is indeterminate, for any image one likes could be obtained from the data, depending upon which rule of projection one chooses to apply. It could thus be said, in echo of Kant, that ‘data without a rule of projection are blind’. But this does not mean that therefore the data play no role at all in generating the image – that the rule of projection operates without any constraint – for ‘a rule of projection without data is empty’.
One consequence of my interpretation of the ‘blindness’ of intuitions that I will note here is that our (human) intuitions qua unsynthesised do not represent anything spatio-temporal. For our intuitions, independently of synthesis (i.e., independently of the application of a rule of projection), do not have any determinate representational content at all – a fortiori, they do not represent anything spatio-temporal. Hence, Wayne Waxman is absolutely correct to argue that Kant denies ‘not merely… supersensible reality to space and time, but superimaginational as well’; however, Waxman is wrong to conclude that therefore ‘All spatial and temporal relations must then be supposed to exist only in and through imagination, and in no way to characterise sensations’. 63 That is, although our intuitions in themselves do not represent anything spatio-temporal, it can nonetheless be said that in themselves they do have a spatio-temporal form.
This claim may initially sound paradoxical, but it is simply an instance of the way in which intuitions can, in themselves, be ‘blind’ and yet function as a constraint on our experience (as explained above). As I have suggested in chapter 2, in the B-Deduction Kant argues that the cognition of all (discursive) minds must involve a category-governed synthesis. In the terms of the analogy used above, that is to say that all possible discursive minds must apply one and the same rule of projection to the data they receive. Now, Kant holds that our human cognition is essentially spatio-temporal – that is, the result of applying the rule of projection to our intuitions must be the cognition of a determinate spatial or temporal object. Furthermore, the proposition that our cognition is essentially spatio-temporal is true in virtue of the fact that we are human beings, and is not true in virtue of the fact that we are discursive minds. This is because other (non-spatio-temporal) modes
____________________
63  W. Waxman, Kant’s Model of the Mind (Oxford University Press, 1991), p. 14; my emphasis.