Relativity: Synchresis in Art and Applied Science

Abstract

This critical engagement paper outlines the technical details and theoretical support for my Masters of Fine Arts final project titled Relativity. This project explores philosophies of perception through associations between art and science within an interdisciplinary study of sound art and expanded cinema. These theories are developed through an interpretation of quantized, binary systems in their relationship to natural, continuous forms. The study of relativity is seen a method to reconcile binary positions in thinking, to cross boundaries between art and science, and to serve as a metaphor for hidden knowledges and a movement from polarities to spectrum states of knowing. My project is an installation of an indeterminate system of a double-sided screen with video projections; situated between two wood, sound resonating panels. The visual imagery and sound will evolve in time, between that of clear depiction, and that of abstracted forms through digital effects processing. In preparation for this project, I have employed methods of experimental art, as well as a focus on practice based research. I have been influenced by the writings of art and science theorists, as well as by studies of contemporary art works and theories. The philosophies of scientific research, as well as my own experience in the applied sciences, provides the background for the comparisons with science based methodologies. This project has been informed by postmodern philosophies influencing personal interpretations of perception as developed in contemporary art theory. These theories are supported by the basis of the theory of relativity: that observation is interpreted relative to the context of the viewer.