Ganzfeld Variations [Translucent paper cylinder method] From a manual of ‘practical experiments’ I am creating based on my workshops. These are activities and experiments that can be easily performed at home. They are aimed at changing perceptions, heightening awareness of the senses, and ‘making strange’ of the everyday experiences. Since things seem to be returning…
Catastrophe theory
This diagram [a work in progress based on Fazey and Hardy, 1988] shows how sudden shifts in behaviour can arise from small changes in circumstances [See Rene Thom – catastrophe theory]. It is used here to explain the process of how increasing cognitive and somatic anxiety might lead to feelings of depersonalisation numbness or panic…
Measuring Anomalous experience.
Questionnaire results
Re-Action
A ‘Re/Action’ is a form of experiential art which resembles a workshop and consists of a series ‘actions’ performed or experienced by participants who interchange between roles of experimenter and audience. The focus is on reflection and introspection, for both the experimenter and participant. The process should generate new questions and evolving iterations for future…
Tabletop Experiments
A manifesto to celebrate 20 years of Tabletop Experiments. 1. The Tabletop Experiment is essentially amateur and DIY in its endeavour. It concerns science as recreation and as a practice that necessitates its own re-creation. 2. It is assembled from items readily available in the home, domestic technology; kitchen utensils, liquid soap or aquarium parts…
Proximal Osmosis Collaboration
Osmosis is the gradual permeation of ideas between different fields. It implies a passive slow diffusion, an unconscious assimilation of knowledge. In biology it is a process by which molecules tend to pass through a semi-permeable membrane from a less saturated medium into a more saturated one. This leads to two mediums of equal saturation…
illusory gaze experiment 1
InstructionMake this image central to your screen it should be around 130mm square. Set a timer for 2 mins.Choose a single point and stare at it. Try an maintain your focus on the dot while paying attention to peripheral activity in your visual field. Make a mental note of these. Please add a comment below…
Mirror Gaze Experiment @MSP
I have been working with Manchester Science Partnerships to develop a range of workshops for their customers, the resident companies that use the park. The first session was the ‘mirror gaze experiment’. During the mirror gaze experiment [MGE] participants are asked to stare at their own reflection in a mirror in a nearly dark room….
Emergent Strange faces
A night vision camera captured video during the experiment from behind the mirror[see diagram here]. This used the program Isadora to detect movement using a ‘difference filter’ and building up an image using ‘shimmer’ and ‘motion blur’ filters with a long decay rate. An image builds up based on the collective movements of all 3…
GANZFELD [Workshop Resource]
GANZFELD Translucent White Hemispherical Domes x 2 45mm diameter. Handmade signed edition of 20. Handmade cardboard box containing two ‘Ganzfeld Hemispheres’. These are translucent white domes perfectly shaped and crafted to fit in the eye socket, with elastic strap and small ceramic bead for adjustment. Inside are a set of instructions. A signed edition of…
Schematic for mirror gaze experiment
Seven Practical experiments
On the inwardly generated image
A visual perception activity based on an Eyeball ATM [awareness through movement] an activity used in Feldenkrais [Teresa Brayshaw led the original session at the [Re]Action lab atLMJU] This session had the addition of generating phosphines in the eyeball through excitation and deformation of the eyeball.
Perception without object
‘The perception of spatial relationships in respect to the orientation of one’s body despite distracting information’ re/performance for ‘Seven Practical Experiments’ INSTRUCTION: PARTICIPANT A 1. Place hemispheres over eyes and secure with tape. Put the headphones on. Ensure the volume is loud enough to block out ambient noise. 2. Your guide will hold your upper…
Concerning the inwardly generated image
Science re-imagined through the lens of somaesthetics
I find it helpful to think of physical metaphors to represent the research process. A phrase that comes up a lot in academic writing is this notion of an event or phenomenon through a ‘lens’. How adopting a theoretical viewpoint can shed new light on a subject / revealing new meaning and understanding. In my…
Sum Total Of All The Actions 7
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Sum total of all the actions
Seven practical experiments
A manual for self-experimentation and a template for performance / A workshop on perceptual illusion and art. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/seven-practical-experiments-tickets-72221088219 ‘Seven practical experiments’ is a new piece of work for by Antony Hall, developed through an exploration of perceptual illusion, and the methods used in experimental psychology. By taking part in this workshop, you will both ‘experience’…
Proximity day 1 experiment 1
Mirror gaze experiment
The mirror gaze experiment requires the participant to sit in a near dark room and to stare at their own reflection for a set amount of time while listing to white noise. After only a short amount of time most people experience powerful illusions of facial distortion, grossly exaggerated features, faces of animals, the face…
Williams Clough ascent using Autoscope
Extract from notes on a day testing the Autoscope with Photographer Andrew Brooks. Images are Screenshots from VR Google perspective “…This particular ascent provides a satisfying sense of progress for the user of the autoscope. Its steep angle means that the future terrain is more easily predicted underfoot. [As noted previously, to descend is more an act of risk or trust]…
Wanderer above the sea of fog
Notes from a day testing the Autoscope with Andrew Brooks. Here is our nod to the painting “Wanderer above the sea of fog” by Caspar David Friedrich 1818. The painting Juxtaposes ‘Man’ and his mastery of nature while simultaneously being a small and insignificant element of the overall landscape. The other mechanism at work is this inverted gaze; We see the back…
Protected: Notes: Action in Perception
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‘Body up’: Current trends and future directions in embodiment and social interaction
Perspectives from neuroscience, clinical & experimental social psychology and new technologies Notes from the Body up Conference UoM 13th June 2019 https://bodyupmanchester.wixsite.com/uomconference Our behaviour and self-perception effect the way in which we see others. We read others body language in order to make judgements on their thoughts and feelings. New research suggests Autistic individuals move…
6 finger and shrunken Finger illusions
Roger Newport gave a talk on his research at the Body Up conference last week. [See work with the MIRAGE box here Augmented Hands] Speaking to him afterwards, he asked if I had ever experienced the 6 finger Illusion? He reached into his bag and revealed a mirror which he placed on the table. Placing…
Autoscope testing at studio
Autoscope prototype
Autoscope builds on laboratory-based simulations of out of body experiences; the portable device allows the participant to freely navigate the world, experiencing themselves in 3rd person, as part of the landscape via a live video feed to a head-mounted display. The visual mechanisms are important in this illusion, but tactile and sonic stimuli further strengthen…
Alien Hand Experiment
I set up a version of the Alien Hand experiment at the Manchester Art Gallery Workshops. Each day I watched as people used this, I took note of what they did and how they interacted with it. A participant places their hands under a screen. The other participant places their hands on the table under a…
Ganzfeld and Mirror Gaze
1-1 experiment sessions in the studio I invited participants to come to my studio to take part in phase 2 of my research. This opens up to using the Ganzfeld and the Strange Face in the Mirror Illusion. Both use white noise connected to a system of biofeedback, using Galvanic skin response signals to subtly…
Clay Hand Experiments
Workshops at Manchester City Art Gallery The aim was to deliver an engaging fun activity for all the family which related to the theme of the body and ideas around perception illusion referencing the Leonardo show as well as the Bridget Riley drawings in the Gallery. The workshop was open as a drop-in open to…
[Re]Mapping perception
Documentation from the [Re]Mapping perception workshop at LJMU 2 May 2019 Here is the original invitation… A workshop for artists/researchers engaging in a wide range of practice-based and artistic research methodologies. It aims to explore interdisciplinary methods through a series of provocations in embodied multisensory experience, designed to enhance our perception and self-awareness. The workshop…
Mirror Gaze Box
A rapidly prototyped blackout box for the mirror gaze box, this is to create a dark space for the Mirror Gaze Experiment. Inside is an Infra Red LED spotlight and modified web camera. The camera films the participant in real time from behind a two-way mirror, as they experience the illusory effect of sensory deprivation.
IR Camera hack
For the Mirror Gaze experiment, I need a camera that works in darkness and can pick up Infrared light. Most webcams have an IR filter. Many such as this Logitech HD webcam have instruction online. Turns out mine was a slightly different model to this and meant that the entire thing needed dismantling and the…
Experience in progress
When I was visiting a French laboratory (CNRS) back in 2007 to do some research on electrogenic fish, I noticed a sign on a laboratory door saying “Expérience en cours” (the actual meaning being ‘experiment in progress’) but this formed a thought in my head: whose experience? That of the entity being experimented upon (…
Accelerometer experiments
Stereoscopic camera experiments
Meta-Perceptual Rail
[Work in progress] A meta-perceptual/ metaphysical rail is a simple piece of hardware that provides a linear track along which to mount mirrors apertures and other props and stimuli. They are used for simple meta-perceptual experiments. Testing the limits of visual and meta perceptual experience as well as exploring more metaphysical and somaesthetic questions of our experiences and…
Marina Abramović – An Artist’s Life MANIFESTO
Thinking about manifestos, this seems to resonate somehow with both life and art. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Art+Meets+Science+and+Spirituality+in+a+Changing+Economy https://hirshhorn.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/An-Artists-Life-Manifesto.pdf
Autoscope backpack
My alloy backpack arrived and has proved perfect for the job of supporting a laptop and a 2m long boom. As an object, It certainly has a vintage feel and a clear aesthetic reference to Roman Signer. this seems entirely appropriate, something about the strangeness of the endeavour as well as the metaphorical notions of…
Synanet workshop: Disrupt Encode Consolidate
Notes for the collaborative Art & Bio-science Workshop at Lancaster University, UK on Monday 17th to Wednesday 19th December 2018 I had a very interesting 3 days at Lancaster University participating in the Synanet workshop. The idea was to bring together interdisciplinary practice across the sciences and arts, to explore ideas in neuroscience research and BioArt. The workshop…
Psychometric tests
I took part in a study at BEAM LAB as a ‘neurotypical control subject. This was my first experience in experimental psychology as a participant. I found this deeply significant for my research; actually experiencing the full process of an experiment in the context of a lab. There were a number of questionnaires and tasks….
Constructing a sense of self
“He felt dizzy, stood up, turned around, and saw himself still lying in bed. He was aware that the person in bed was him, and was not willing to get up and would thus make himself late for work. Furious at the prone self, the man shouted at it, shook it, and even jumped on…