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| transient_realities_or_verges_of_con-fusion [2015-04-06 13:31] – created nik | transient_realities_or_verges_of_con-fusion [2015-04-06 13:38] – nik |
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| ==== Transient Realities Or Verges Of Con-fusion ==== | ==== Transient Realities Or Verges Of Con-fusion ==== |
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| (by Maja Kuzmanovic and FoAM) | (by Maja Kuzmanovic and Nik Gaffney. first published in the [[trg book]] ) |
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| When the TRG team first sat down to think about the 'what', why' and 'how' of the project, we contemplated we collectively envision as transient realities and how we can generate them. Passages through semi-permeable layers between spaces of varying density (gaseous/liquid, solid/malleable...) were a popular starting point. We were musing about situations occurring on the periphery of perception, in which our normalised behaviour becomes unbalanced and our sense of reality tricked by mixtures of tangible and intangible phenomena. Quickly the conversations became quite abstract on one hand, while too goal driven on the other (i.e. we have only a few months to build this thing, whatever it turns out to be). In order to avoid becoming both too caught up in conceptual fantasies, as well as too quickly making design decisions, we proceeded to contextualise transient reals in everyday life. It appeared that the occurrences of temporary intrusions, blends and mutations of different realities are quite common phenomena in everyday life; | When the TRG team first sat down to think about the 'what', why' and 'how' of the project, we contemplated we collectively envision as transient realities and how we can generate them. Passages through semi-permeable layers between spaces of varying density (gaseous/liquid, solid/malleable...) were a popular starting point. We were musing about situations occurring on the periphery of perception, in which our normalised behaviour becomes unbalanced and our sense of reality tricked by mixtures of tangible and intangible phenomena. Quickly the conversations became quite abstract on one hand, while too goal driven on the other (i.e. we have only a few months to build this thing, whatever it turns out to be). In order to avoid becoming both too caught up in conceptual fantasies, as well as too quickly making design decisions, we proceeded to contextualise transient reals in everyday life. It appeared that the occurrences of temporary intrusions, blends and mutations of different realities are quite common phenomena in everyday life; |
| - As children, we were often surprised by unexpected behaviours of matter - stepping on a not so solid ice-crust and falling through it into a world of different temperature and viscosity; | * As children, we were often surprised by unexpected behaviours of matter - stepping on a not so solid ice-crust and falling through it into a world of different temperature and viscosity; |
| - Moments in which our expectations of what reality is supposed to be are pleasantly, or unpleasantly different - getting lost in a foreign city and ending up in the worst ghetto in the country, but meeting very caring and hospitable people, who gradually change your perception of the place (by showing you their secret gardens and underground labyrinths), at the same time as you becoming an embodiment of a world they will never experience; | * Moments in which our expectations of what reality is supposed to be are pleasantly, or unpleasantly different - getting lost in a foreign city and ending up in the worst ghetto in the country, but meeting very caring and hospitable people, who gradually change your perception of the place (by showing you their secret gardens and underground labyrinths), at the same time as you becoming an embodiment of a world they will never experience; |
| - Amplifying invisible phenomena on a human scale, such as being immersed in microscopic or macroscopic universes, being able to scratch the surface of a molecule, or feel the heat of a distant star; | * Amplifying invisible phenomena on a human scale, such as being immersed in microscopic or macroscopic universes, being able to scratch the surface of a molecule, or feel the heat of a distant star; |
| - Daydreaming and moments of deja-vu can be experienced as intrusions from other realities, times, spaces, imaginaries, that can peacefully co-exist with some mundane activity, such as travelling the Earthly space-time by taking a bus to school, or washing the dishes; | * Daydreaming and moments of deja-vu can be experienced as intrusions from other realities, times, spaces, imaginaries, that can peacefully co-exist with some mundane activity, such as travelling the Earthly space-time by taking a bus to school, or washing the dishes; |
| - Stronger experiences of mutations of reality can be experienced by ingesting psychedelic substances, where you are not sure what is a shared, 'consensual' reality and what is a perceptual play of chemicals in your bodies; | * Stronger experiences of mutations of reality can be experienced by ingesting psychedelic substances, where you are not sure what is a shared, 'consensual' reality and what is a perceptual play of chemicals in your bodies; |
| - Relationships - spaces in which (more or less temporarily) we exist in a cross-section of each other's realities; | * Relationships - spaces in which (more or less temporarily) we exist in a cross-section of each other's realities; |
| - Temporary autonomous zones (TAZ, to borrow the term from HakimBey), places established to lift us away from habitual life, for a few hours, days or weeks, such as festivals, parties and markets. | * Temporary autonomous zones (TAZ, to borrow the term from HakimBey), places established to lift us away from habitual life, for a few hours, days or weeks, such as festivals, parties and markets. |
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| How can we generate transient realities? We can instantiate chemical changes from inside the bodies; through extreme bodily endurance, such as sleep deprivation; prolonged, intensive physical and/or mental activity, ingestion of mood and/or perception altering substances, etc. Alternatively, we can make changes in the environment by modifying sensory input (and thereby influencing the perception and the feeling of reality), destabilising the sense of balance, removing the frame of reference (such as the horizon), restricting/altering motor functions (through clothing and architecture). In our process of generating realities, the empirical research of the changes within the body was conducted only within the development team, while we worked on creating a change from without the body, by making an environment that is more malleable and adaptive on a human scale than what we experience in everyday life. | How can we generate transient realities? We can instantiate chemical changes from inside the bodies; through extreme bodily endurance, such as sleep deprivation; prolonged, intensive physical and/or mental activity, ingestion of mood and/or perception altering substances, etc. Alternatively, we can make changes in the environment by modifying sensory input (and thereby influencing the perception and the feeling of reality), destabilising the sense of balance, removing the frame of reference (such as the horizon), restricting/altering motor functions (through clothing and architecture). In our process of generating realities, the empirical research of the changes within the body was conducted only within the development team, while we worked on creating a change from without the body, by making an environment that is more malleable and adaptive on a human scale than what we experience in everyday life. |
nik