Defining Perspectival Spaces at Cambridge Creation Lab

MIT researchers have discovered a novel method for constructing intricate three- dimensional structures using self-assembling polymer materials, which generate minuscule wires and junctions. They arrange block copolymer layers into orderly perpendicular rows, thus facilitating the creation of smaller chip components and serving as an alternative to photolithography used in the 1960s for computer chip fabrication. This evokes the image of a net, where intersecting fibers knot at their junctions, creating a flexible grid of square compartments. It evokes the concept of a fish trap, still in use for capturing fish and crustaceans, or the nets crafted by ancient Hawaiians from olona, firebrand, and stone sinkers. I focus on a site-specific wire mesh sculpture that, via its translucency, absorbs light and color, seamlessly integrating into the skyline while merging lyrical sublimity with appealing viewpoints on the present vs. the past. In a distinct setting, Irish author James Joyce employed wire imagery in his short story “Araby” to depict the emotional state of a young boy, shaped by the words and gestures of a little girl: “My body resembled a harp, while her words and gestures resembled fingers running across the wires.” Frank Bunker Gilbreth and Lillian Gilbreth, who used photography to scrutinize human activities, evoke thoughts of the Stereo Chronocyclegraphs as they transition from the microgrid to the mesh wire sculpture, with the actual vibrations of wires symbolizing friction or desire. Gilbreth affixed small lights to a worker during a job to provide a visual representation of the physical activity. Gilbreth developed these work motion models for the “motion-minded” worker who could reflect on their own physical actions. The visual abstraction tactics used in commercial graphics have little resemblance to the visual techniques adopted by the Fluxus movement or by German avant-gardist Hans Richter in his abstract animated feature Rhythmus 21. The rectangular black and white shapes that shift and manifest in varying quantities and sequences throughout this short video evoke sensations of clashing forms and engage the full sensorium as an implicit element of the creator’s artistic expression. Within a virtual spatial network, we can integrate such dynamic shapes into the imaginative realm, now enriched with hues or their absence.

You could interpret this as a dancer’s kinesthetic expression on an antique frieze, articulate it as an abstract monologue, conceptualize it as an architectural space, craft it as a disjointed visual story, or explore it through the externalization of proposed pictorial rhythms. Strike a flawless C on the piano, activate the computer, and magnify the thumbnails of the illustrations. As you inhale, immerse yourself in the visuals, recalling Man Ray, who created multidimensional images using thumbtacks and wire coils on photosensitive paper. Instead of averting your gaze, let the mechanics of your perception, sensation, and intention to hear and touch captivate you. Anglo-American photographer Eadweard Muybridge conducted experiments with a horse in motion to determine whether it ever goes completely airborne when galloping or trotting by stringing a sequence of wires across the track, each linked to a camera’s shutter. As the horses galloped, they stumbled over the cables, prompting the cameras to capture 12 photos in rapid succession. Muybridge subsequently projected these pictures using a magic lantern to illustrate the motion of a horse. Time seemed to alter, and the oscillating patterns of overlapping segments fused, enhancing the visual perceptions of literary figures such as Edgar Allan Poe, James Joyce, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, the principal protagonist, Nick Carraway, recounts the narrative of Jay Gatsby in an exact and elliptical style, maybe influenced by excessive drinking, disorientation, or a shift from present to past tense. Muybridge’s Horse in Motion graphically parallels Nick’s lagging and colliding storylines. Photography has influenced the aesthetic structure of literature for decades, while literature can create imagery in our thoughts and modify our visual perception. Consequently, German artist Isa Genzken’s refined wooden sculptures, the Ellipsoids and Hyperboloids, remind me of ellipses in tales. Despite their basic and understated design, these slim and sparse floor-skimming forms provide a powerful impression of elongation and curve. They communicate in a language that Genzken intended for the audiences to investigate and engage with. Why do these sculptures evoke memories of the elliptical Roman Colosseum? Artworks depicting auditory and olfactory sensations create dynamic patterns as mathematics and instinct intersect; while uncalculated, the multifaceted nature of this experience resonates with synesthesia or cross-sensory experiences. I firmly assert that one can acquire synesthesia, both methodically and intuitively, as a literary technique and metaphorical process. The possibilities are boundless as the transfusions between forms progress and vividly outline our dormant imagined realms.