Bryan poses the question of whether or not seeing the unseen atmosphere is necessary if we are to recognize its relevance. Early in our discussion yesterday we expanded on the notion of “seeing” and decided that “sensing” might be a better term. For the purpose of my response, I would like to establish “sensing” as that visceral feeling that triggers awareness and critical inquiry.
To answer Bryan’s question, I say that yes, sensing the atmosphere is very important if we are to understand our relationship with it. By sensing the reality we exist in we are given the tools to demystify it. We can recognize its presence, allowing for an easier connection to the bodily experience rather than existing in the intangible realm of the mind.
Such demystification is very different from the omnipresence of a disembodied entity held forth by organized religion or the magical presence of technology. While these two ways of understanding often attempt to establish a separation from each other, they are similar in that both place a distance between the teleology and the material experience of that system of belief. The experience is left to the mind rather than the body. This distance then makes it hard for those affected by these explanations to critique their validity. The mystification makes it significantly hard to get past looking at the purpose served and thus, the actual cause or origin of the system of understanding is never critiqued.
Catherine Richards’s work as well as the work of the other artists that Francis Dyson includes in her book attempts to break down the binary between mind and body so that they may become partners in furthering our understanding of an experience rather than two separate poles constantly trying to exert power of one another. Rather than having the mind transcend to the realm of virtual reality where the presence of the body no longer matters, rather than creating a cyborg body powered by a very visceral technology, Dyson is celebrating art that combines the two. She is recognizing that we are never completely disembodied consumers of technology, enveloped mentally, but not physically. Nor are we unthinking visceral products of technology consumption. We always have a foot in each world and for this reason the liminal space between mind and body is one Dyson wants us to be aware of.
Awareness comes from a sensing of the atmosphere’s presence and Dyson’s atmosphere is synonymous to the spectrum between mind and body mentioned above. Sensing the space between is necessary if we are to be critical of the binary between mind and body, but beyond that, the duality of language as a whole. Sensing does not necessarily need to be a visual ideal, i.e. we do not need to have dyed electromagnetic waves floating through the air in order to know their presence. Instead, we simply need to remain critical of their place in our reality as well as the effects we have on this atmosphere. For Dyson, sensing sets the table for the awareness of a reciprocal relationship between our body and the technology we are constantly coming into contact with. We are affecting it as much as it is affecting us and thus, presence is not in one pole or the other, but rather somewhere in between.
1. How do media work to build awareness of atmosphere? How do media cloak its presence?
2. What would a work of art like Richards’ look like if we were to market it for mass consumption?
The Saturday Night Live “Woomba” skit is the perfect example of how our culture understands a body-technology awareness. Like we see so often in science fiction movies, being forced to recognize technology can never come on good terms. http://www.hulu.com/watch/70317/saturday-night-live-woomba
eXistenZ (1999) is a David Cronenberg film that tends to fall on the more conservative side in its understanding of the body-technology relationship. With that said, I would argue the film is much more nuanced in its approach than what the trailer puts forth. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAdbdUt_h9M&feature=youtu.be
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