https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs48nJo3ukU&feature=youtu.be Emergent strange face from recent workshop at Manchester Science Park 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 participants. A collective strange face. Emergent strange face from Proximity project Emergent strange face from Proximity project
Author: antonyhall
Artist, educator, and researcher working between the fields of science and art.
Proximity – @ Paradise works 11/12/2019
GANZFELD Translucent White Hemispherical Domes x 2 45mm diameter. Handmade signed edition of 20. Image: Anya Stewart Maggs Images from the Proximity show at Paradis works; I created these 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 20 was produced as a workshop resource. The work is activated through its use, and the experiences that come through its use, and continued practice. Ideally, it should be stored alongside other items in the medicine cabinet. [See the current version of this workshop - Perception without object] I also showed a series of transcripts
Schematic for mirror gaze experiment
Making as Paradox
I am pleased to be an invited speaker at the annual AHRC Student Conference, which will be held at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle. Here is the info... "The annual AHRC Student Conference, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, on 26th October 2019 from 10:30 till 16:00 A conference for practice-based research in Art, Design and Craft. This conference for practice-based research in Art, Design and Craft aims to provide a dynamic forum in which to explore new ways of creating knowledge through practice, with a particular focus on the disruption of technology in our made environments. The conference will contain a day of presentations, discussion and debate around contemporary themes that draw on the paradoxes of making today and by doing
Seven Practical experiments
Images from 'Seven Practical Experiments' workshop as part of Sum total of all the actions at Rogue artists studios. 1: Feldenkrais - See notes on the inwardly generated image (by deformation of the eyeball) 2. Anomalous perception scale Spontaneous sensations 3: Action intention paradox [See developmental notes] Alien hand 4: Concerning the inwardly generated image [See notes on Ganzfeld variation 1] 5: You are the object of your own observation [See notes on the mirror gaze experiment] 6: You are the object of your own observation. Mirror Gaze experiments in near darkness. 6: Perception without object [The perception of spatial relationships in respect to the orientation of one's body despite distracting information] See notes on Ganzfeld variation 2 7. The permanent possibility of experience. An based on the experiments of Ernst Mach [Notes to come]
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.
Concerning the inwardly generated image
Testing the autoscope
Extracts from an experiment/performance with the Autoscope, to see if the feeling of disembodied/remote presence is amplified through taking on a challenging physical task, and to explore how this affects our perception of the landscape. Thanks to Andrew P Brooks for film and photography. "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 the effects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY7bs2Lih0Y&t=386s
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 own research, I have been interested in ‘somaesthetics' as a theoretical framework for my project. Science re-imagined through the lens of SOMAESTHETICS as illuminated by artistic research Somaesthetics, as defined by Richard Shusterman, foregrounds bodily perceptions and practices and how these contribute to knowledge and our construction of reality (1) specifically ‘pragmatic somaesthetics’ includes training and harnessing bodily experience. Furthermore, its practical element endorses bodily practice. This would
Sum Total Of All The Actions 7
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Sum Total Of All The Actions 2
Sum total of all the actions 1
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' the work and 'perform' the experiments; in doing so you will become the work. The experiments will be preceded by a session of Feldenkrais led by Teresa Brayshaw. Feldenkrais is a method of enhancing self-awareness through movement and the heightening of bodily perception. Following this activity, you will then be guided through the 'seven practical experiments' and given space to reflect and discuss what you have experienced.
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 of a lion or Darth Vader for example. These emerge as if from nowhere, disappearing at the slightest movement or eye blink, before manifesting new forms. These flowing cascades of illusory effects can elicit powerful emotional responses. In my own research, the mirror gaze experiment has resulted in significant illusory experiences across the full range of participants. I documented the way in which the illusory experience
Williams Clough ascent using Autoscope
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 of the painted characters head, something that was quite unusual at the time. In doing this one idea is that we imagine ourselves as part of the image, putting our selves in the place of the depicted figure. It seems apt to recreate this, as one effect of the autoscope is this sensation that you have become part of the landscape and the feeling
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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 their bodies differently, and that in a way, are speaking a different body language. Understanding this helps explain why they have difficulties reading our intentions and emotions. Jennifer Cooks research on movement kinematics showed how gait point models, captured through motion capture, could convey different emotions through their walking style. For example, most people can notice someone one walking style as ‘angry' or ‘sad’. However - the
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 my hand one side of the mirror, he skilfully performed the illusion. Looking into the mirror I watched as each finger was stroked predictably in series, moving from thumb to the little finger, but then continuing to apparently stroke an invisible 6th finger. This worked perfectly for me. What is really interesting is that apparently a very small amount of people have reported seeing this
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 the effects. Autoscopy can be described as the disembodied perception of seeing one own body from an elevated or distanced location outside the body. The phenomena of the ‘out of body experience’ during heightened states of heightened consciousness or near-death experience tend to have spiritual or shamanistic connotations, but in recent times science has done much to demystify this phenomenon, identifying the neural mechanisms responsible.
Action Intention Paradox
In this experiment, which is now renamed the 'Alien Hands Experiment' one participant [A] places their hands under a flat-screen monitor. They then see what seems to be their own hands under the screen when in fact these are someone else's hands [B] who is mirroring their actions. The effect can be quite uncanny especially if the appearance of the hand contrast with their own [in scale, age or colour. Participants work together to lead or mirror the movements of what appears to be their own hands under a screen. After a short time, participants experience strange sensations which oscillate between a loss of agency over their own hands and feeling agency over someone else's hands. Action Intention Paradox uses 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 modulate the noise. Through this, I have been developing my interview technique and also the working questions that I ask. This has resulted in a new artwork which is taking the form of a questionnaire. Currently, I'm referring to it as the "Hall Anomalous Perception scale" a tongue in cheek reference to the Cardiff scale designed to asses experiences of anomalous perceptions in daily life. A participant
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 the general public and over the 8 days, we had around 800 people take part in total. The workshop served as an introduction to the idea of ‘perceptual and multisensory illusions’ and was based around my Clay Hand Experiment. I asked participants to work collaboratively to create their own hands and 'unfeasible objects 'with which to perform their own experiments on each other. It provided a