IVO PITTS
Our Space explores the role of vision in regulating physiology. With eyes of many different shapes and sizes found across the land, sea and air many species have access to light in a variety of different ways.
Patterns, rhythms, hues and intensities inform not only our actions in space but the ways in which we think about them too. For many species with access to light the observable world is not one of clarity and definition but one of sensitivity and gradients that inform them of simple distinctions between night and day and objects near and far. However, whether this ability to solely detect lights presence from absence can be classed as sight is still contested amongst visual scientists. Asking the question, is clarity more revealing than sensitivity?
Consisting of a steady stream of water droplets descending routinely into the center of a large dish of water, reflections of the ripples caused by the droplets impact are cast onto the wall gently as they gently reverberate within the confines of the dish.
Our senses reveal the world to us and without them it is hard to imagine life at all. In absence of touch we would become numb. Without scent we would cease to be moved. Without sight we would find ourselves in darkness. Without taste life would would be bland and without sound we are alone.
When combined, these 5 channels of information create what Jakub Von Uexkull described as an Umwelt. Translated from German as ‘environment’ the term Umwelt
This unique collection 5 window bubble through which we percieve the worlds is called an Umwelt
Focusing on the steady stream of water droplets descending into the middle of the large dish of water below. The resulting ripples from the droplets impact are cast onto the wall by a spotlight placed towards the back of the room.
As the projected forms contort and reverberate within the confines of the dish the body becomes grounded in the space. Both connected and subject to the mechanics of the environment in. Through co-inhabiting place the artwork becomes the experience and life becomes art.