ART1020 Critique & Interpret

Perennial Wisdom & Transpersonal Psychology

2012-02-15T15:53:00.000-05:00

Reading for Mon. Feb. 20th:
(1) Alex Grey, The Mission of Art, Chapter Two

(2) Selections from texts of the great religions and philosophies of the world, compiled by the Theosophical Society, illustrating the idea of Perennial Wisdom. Note: You don't need to read through this whole thing, just glance over it as evidence supporting the idea that there is a common set of beliefs underlying almost every serious worldview.
Other links
• Tons of articles about perennial wisdom from the Theosophical Society.
• Articles on transpersonal psychology by Stanislav Grof
• Ken Wilber's website

Two Brains, Two Selves

2012-02-15T15:32:00.001-05:00

The Self and its Brains

2012-02-13T16:17:00.002-05:00

Text for class on Feb. 15th:
Interview with Thich Nhat Hahn

Reminder: Email me any digital media regarding your Blindness Project by Sunday evening, Feb. 12th

2012-02-08T15:56:00.002-05:00

Documentary about the Extended Mind Hypothesis

2012-02-08T15:56:00.000-05:00

BLIND SEEING PROJECT

2012-02-06T16:24:00.004-05:00

What does it mean, to see?

Due: Feb13th

INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Blindfold yourself for a min. 4 hours. The longer, the betterresponse you’ll get. 6-8 hours is ideal. If you work with a partner, then you can walk around and dosome exploring. Have as much fun as possible without being harmed or killed.

2. Spend the first threehours of the experiment just trying to be receptive to your new condition.Think about the ways your other sense experiences change when you cannot see.Try to get into the strangeness of it.

3. After at least 3 hours,locate your self in an environment that is very visually familiar to you, someplace like your dorm room or living space that you know very well. While stillin a state of artificial blindness, you must perform a specific set of memoryobservations. You must record as many details about the visual look andcontents of the space you are familiar with as you can remember. This isessentially a test of your visual memory. Try to think of everything youremember about what you can ordinary see and notice about the space, such asfor example: photographs or images you have on the wall, the colors ofsurfaces, objects, odd visual details you customarily notice. Make a list ofobservations.

4. After the time is up,take off your blindfold. Now look over your list and check it with what you cannow see. Record any differences, distortions or omissions.

5. Create a visual artworkor write a short story or reflection on your experience which focuses on one ormore of the following questions:

How is blind perception similar/different from sightedperception?

How is the acoustic world similar/different from thevisual world?

What are the normal limitations of your senses?

What things are you ordinarily blind to?

What are your philosophical blind spots?

What perceptual/cognitive ability would you most desire topossess?

What would you do / what would happen, if you achievedthis ability?

Write/imagine a story about such a transformationoccurring.

What would change? How would it change

The Evolution and Purpose of Consciousness

2012-02-06T16:14:00.000-05:00

For class on Wednesday, Feb. 8th

The standard scientific model of perception explains our normal perceptual abilities and experiences in terms of the brain, conceived of as a biologically-evolved information processing wet computer, which sorts and processes information about the environment in terms of its relevance to the program of biological and sexual survival. This is a compelling theory, but it leaves the most important part of perception unexplained: our awareness or consciousness of what we perceive. This mystery has generated a renaissance of interdisciplinary scientific research aiming at trying to generate new theories which can explain what consciousness is and what its purpose is in the larger picture of the evolution of nature and the universe.

Now can consciousness be studied "objectively", which is to say, as an object which exists independently of the observer? If not, how might that bear on Plato's Critique of Art?

Required texts:

1. David Chalmers, "Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness" (Excerpt)

2. Rupert Sheldrake, "The Sense of Being Stared At"

3. A video primer on the "Double Slit Experiment" in quantum mechanics which reveals the bizarre nature of light and matter.

Recommended:

For anyone interested in further exploration of this fascinating area of research, begin with some of the documents below.

4. A lecture by Rupert Sheldrake on the sense of being stared at and other new scientific evidence suggesting that the mind is extended outside the brain like an electromagnetic or quantum field.

5. A lecture by physicist Peter Russell which explores the problem of consciousness and argues that consciousness is a more fundamental reality in the universe than physical reality.

6. A lecture by scientist Dean Radin the world's foremost scientific researcher into psychic or "paranormal phenomena" surveys the most important scientific research experiments into this area. You will be amazed at how much data there is.

7. EVIDENCE OF THE SENSITIVITY OF WATER TO VIBRATION (THOUGHT)

Research From Dr. Masaru Emoto, says that human thoughts are directed at water before it is frozen, images of the resulting water crystals will be beautiful or ugly depending upon whether the thoughts were positive or negative. Emoto claims this can be achieved through prayer, music or by attaching written words to a container of water. Since 1999 Emoto has published several volumes of a work titled Messages from Water, which contains photographs of water crystals next to essays and "words of intent".

2. EVIDENCE THAT LIVING FORMS HAVE QUASI-INSTANTANEOUS SENSITIVITY TO THE LIFE AROUND THEM
Biocommunication: The general field of study of communication between different biological life forms, mostly in nature, sometimes in the laboratory. It involves the use of instrumentation to observe reactive events occurring in all kinds of life–animal, plant, cellular, microscopic, and so on — and includes observational biology, high quality observational studies. Also included is the study of the effect of human thought and intention on life forms in the environment.

Primary Perception: The vehicle of communication, the invisible, unrecognized field that interconnects all species and life forms, whereby biocommunication can occur. Coined by Cleve Backster, primary perception is distinct from extra sensory perception (ESP) in that it occurs before the human specialized senses of taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell. It is likely going on all the time. (Some Quantum Physicists are thrilled with his research.)

ART 1020 Syllabus

2012-02-06T15:22:00.003-05:00

Syllabus for ART 1020 Spring 1012

The Significance of Optical Illusions for the Theory of Perception

2012-02-01T17:56:00.002-05:00

From the vision psychologist Richard Gregory's website.

What is strange about the visual illusion above? For class on Mon. Feb 6th we are going to look at the STANDARD MODEL OF PERCEPTION. The reading is Richard Gregory's paper "Knowledge in Perception and Illusion." This paper lays out an explanation of the illusion above. See if you can figure out how the explanation works.

The Blind Photographer

2012-02-01T16:22:00.001-05:00

| Artists Wanted | In Focus : Pete Eckert from Artists Wanted on Vimeo.

(5) 2-1 Kinds of Blindness

2012-01-30T16:24:00.001-05:00

Have you every wondered what it would be like to be born blind and then to have your vision restored as an adult? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have seen your whole life, and then to suddenly loose your vision permanently?

Readings for Wed. Feb 1st:

1. Oliver Sacks, “The Mind’s Eye: What the blind see”

2. Oliver Sacks, "To See and Not to See"

1-30 (4) Realism, style, artistic visions

2012-01-25T13:20:00.004-05:00

Does rationality have a monopoly on truth?

Reading for class on Monday, Jan. 30th:

Alex Grey, The Mission of Art, Ch. 1

(3) How to leave the Cave, or Defining True Knowledge

2012-01-23T15:19:00.003-05:00

Reading assignment for Wed. 1/25:
1. PLATO'S CAVE: a selection from the beginning of Book 7 of the Republic, where Plato offers one of his most compelling metaphors of truth and illusion, the Allegory of the Cave.
2. A very brief explanation of what the Theory of Knowledge is.

1-23 (2) An Ancient Challenge to All Future Artists

2012-01-18T17:47:00.003-05:00

In Plato’s still radical book THE REPUBLIC (circa 360 BCE), the first work of systematic political science and one of the greatest works of philosophy every conceived, Plato offers a powerful critique of the arts that still holds sway over popular cultural and institutional beliefs about art and the artistic life. In fact, Plato offers a challenge to all future artists in that argument, to justify themselves as a form of human culture. A contemporary artist struggling to make sense of the value of her creativity would benefit by trying to articulate a response to the most incessant and powerful of all dead white males.

Assignment for Monday, Jan. 23rd is a selection from Plato's Republic:

1. Book Ten of Plato's Republic. In this very famous conversation between the characters of Socrates and Glaucon in Book Ten, Socrates (speaking for Plato) states his case against art. The reading is challenging, so go slow. You'll have to read it several times.

While you are reading, keep the following questions in mind and be prepared to discuss these next week:

1. How is Socrates defining ART-POETRY?
2. Why does Socrates think that artistic representations (mimeses) are harmful to viewers?
2. What are Socrates' grounds for denying knowledge to poets/artists/musicians/writers/etc?
3. What do artists know?