Gaze-Shift

A commission for The University of Sheffield Festival of the Mind 2014. Working in collaboration with Professor Peter Redgrave from the Department of Psychology, I created this animation that maps the areas of the brain as they respond to basic elements of visual stimuli. Gaze-Shift is a unique audio-visual installation that addresses the biological nature of vision; and how we structure order from optical chaos. The animation offers a representation of two distinct parts of the human visual system: the cortical visual system and the ancient, reptilian, optic tectum. A large split screen represents the relatively new, in evolutionary terms, ~60 million year old cortical visual system. On one half the viewer sees graphic representations of the elements making up complex vision: colour, texture, form, and complex movement, in an animated sequence building in complexity. On the other half appears a representation of the location in the brain where these stimuli are registered - the viewer sees the location of these stimuli directly as they occur inside the brain. Meanwhile, smaller monitors to right and left (in the viewer’s peripheral vision) display visual interruptions that stimulate the viewers’ ancient ~400 million year old optic tectum or ‘early warning system’. Linked to this display is music designed by Leeds College of Music graduate John Redgrave, building up harmoniously in response to the central screen, with dissonant sounds signalling the appearance of the peripheral ‘corner of the eye’ stimuli.