The book “Chaos, Territory, Art” delves into the ontology of art, exploring its material and conceptual structures. According to Gilles Deleuze, art doesn’t create concepts but rather responds to issues and provocations, creating feelings, affects, and intensities that correlate with and link to ideas. The book’s opening contemplates the notion of chaos and how its forces can be distinguished, leading to the creation of the universe, art, and living. Sensation is a concept that exists in the relationship between the subject and the universe before any understanding, perception, or intellect, and where these elements are in constant flux.

“Art can create sensations from chaos, and through the entwined relationship between body and universe, entwined in mutual concavity/convexity, floating/falling, folding/unfolding are directly touched by that out- side now enframed, creating sensation from their coming together.”

Grosz explores the relationship between chaos and territory as it relates to the production and reception of art. She draws on the philosophical concepts of Gilles Deleuze to develop her ideas about the relationship between art and the environment. For Grosz, “chaos” refers to the dynamic and unpredictable nature of the world around us. She argues that the environment is constantly changing and that it is shaped by a variety of forces, including geological, biological, and cultural factors. In this sense, chaos represents the non-linear, non-hierarchical, and open-ended nature of the world.

In contrast, “territory” refers to the ways in which we impose order and structure on the chaos of the environment. Territory is the process of creating boundaries, defining spaces, and organizing the world around us. According to Grosz, territory is a way of making sense of the chaos of the environment, and of creating a sense of stability and order. In this context, a “place” is a specific location or environment that has been territorially defined. A place can be a physical location, such as a city or a natural landscape, or it can be a social or cultural space, such as a community or a tradition. According to Grosz, a place is not simply a passive backdrop for artistic production and reception, but rather an active and dynamic force that shapes the way we think about and engage with art. Overall, Grosz’s work on chaos, territory, and art emphasizes the importance of understanding the ways in which the environment shapes artistic production and reception, and of recognizing the dynamic and complex relationship between art and the world around us.

In the case of our project, we are working out how can we show the spectators the chaos of the world we are living in? How the places we inhabit change by the very own nature of the world, and by our own interaction with it in a non-linear way. How the steps passing thru time keep changing, evolving the environment they are surrounded and are part of, and the way they are keeping up with the changes of the city and the people who pass thru time and space. We want to create a representation of this, the chaos of the world, and the transformation it has over time and space. In our exhibition, the digital animations of the scans will be representing this evolution of the new stairs, while at the same time will be showing a new unexplored dimension.

Daniela, ChatGPT Feb 13 Version

 

References

Mar 1, 2023

 

How do we connect real-life places with those that are digitally produced?

The connection itself is the place or the essence of the place we are trying to transmit. Even if we only take a certain part of it to represent the main idea, it is there. We cannot create this new dimension without heavily basing it on a real-life place. So what exactly makes it real now? One can say that the added meaning given by the creators (us) of this new dimension gives the user a new perspective of looking through the eyes of another person and being able to visually see the representation of someone else’s mind, transmitted and transplanted onto the new dimension of the non-existent new plane of the place it was based on.

So what is the purpose of this exhibition?

For the user to explore new ways of seeing the world through the digital tools we have provided. Not only are we transforming the world we live in by scanning the new steps and digitally creating its doppelgänger, but we have also created a new, different dimension of it. We are combining this real place and these modifications of digitally altered places to help the user explore all the possibilities that exist in this dimension.

How can the spectator create a significant connection with our exhibition if the place we are showing is not real?

Well, that’s where some people might differ, as it is a real place, and it’s characteristically a place that it’s known in Edinburgh, full of stories, journeys, messages, and different people passing by every single day. It’s a bridge/path/staircase from one part of the city to the other, it connects us all together., each user will have a different meaning/idea of this place.

At what point does this new dimension become a fantasy, an unattainable dream from its creators?

The truth is, no matter what we might think, once we have created these beautiful, transformed, and carefully curated non-places based on the new steps, they become a reality, even if the reality only exists digitally. Once the user experiences the sensations that we have designed them to feel, it becomes alive. It will never cease to exist as it now lives within the minds and personal experiences of each of the users. We might not fully know what perspective each user has embedded in their mind, but that’s the beauty of this: each individual will create their own personal version of this sensory experience.

Emotions are what make a space a place (Eleni, 2023)

Daniela

Mar 1, 2023

 

We decided that for the final project, we want to focus on creating an interactive exhibition where we display our version of place using visual media and an immersive sound design.

I’m really interested in how places mean something different for each person and in the emotional impact behind them. And from our first take using the LiDAR scan something we realized was that when scanning a reflective surface the laser can create a 3D space of the reflection. For instance in the scanning of David’s room where he has a mirror placed on the wall, once you start exploring the 3D space you can see that there has been a creation of the reflection.

So a concept that could be really interesting to explore is to create a series of scans in public places while placing a mirror in the middle of it. While the scans might not create a full reflection of the space inside of the mirror. What we could do is with the scan of the place, create a second version where things are slightly different, distorted, slightly(or vastly changed from the original. And placing that distorted version on the other side of the reflection of the mirror. So we are talking of a real place and a non-place next to each other with the mirror as a bridge between those two dimensions. (the upside down from stranger things).

For the exhibition, I think an immersive experience would be a great way to make the spectator feel like they are inside the place we are scanning.

We could have a video playing and exploration of the real place, and having the camera kind of moving towards the mirror, and once it reaches it courses the mirror threshold and then you can see the non-place (same place but distorted in some way). For the sound part of the exhibition, it could be something similar, creating a sound from the environment we are scanning, and when we cross to the other side of the mirror having a distorted/changed version of the sound.

To choose a place for the exhibition I think it would be really interesting to scan The Scotlands National Museum, but we have to take into consideration that we might not be able to get in and take the required scans of the place without some kind of permit.

Another option could be to The New Steps, as it could be shown as this neverending stairs from one dimension to the other (could be having two mirrors [portals] one at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top, and the “camera” is on a loop constantly going from one to the other as there is no exit from this.

Daniela Morales

06 February 2023

Jan 28, 2023

 

Place

From the first session we had, I started to record my ideas on what I believe place is, as well as what we could do with this prompt for the assignment we have this semester.

I tend to ask questions to myself so here are some of them.

What meaning do we leave behind in our place?

How is this jump between a place and a non-place?

The creation of bridges and walls between places?

How much of the space we inhabit is actually ours?

How much of our “being” do we leave behind in a place that we spend a lot of time in, or that we care about?

How can we show our emotions as we are going through a predetermined space/place?

Why do we have such strong connections to our environments?

While I might not have the answer to my questions it does help me gather my thoughts about our topic. I would like to start researching and exploring how we can answer these questions.

One thing I’m really excited about is starting to work with the LiDAR technology as I have seen some projects online that show just how incredible the technology is.

Such as the LIDAR Scanning the Museum photography project from Ben Snell, where he placed the LiDAR Scanner in the Carnegie Museum of Art, as people were walking by. Creating a series of photography where we can see a timeline of the “ghosts” of the individuals that walked through.

Another incredible project is Nimbes an immersive visual 360 installation of a virtual universe, created by Joanie Lemercier. This is a 15-minute video that takes the spectator on a journey through a virtual universe, showing constellations, natural landscapes, and crumbling architecture.

Daniela Morales

27 January 2023

 

 

 

Jan 27, 2023