Thresholds: Limits of Perception
An exhibition of works by artists and scientists.
Arts Biennial 1997
Eighth Floor Gallery, 473 Broadway, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10013
October 14-25, 1997
Request for Submissions
The Thresholds: Limits of Perception exhibition will include works by
artists and scientists. We hope that these works will bridge the chasm
between artistic and scientific perspectives to provide us all with new
insight into the nature of perception.
The scientific study of perception emphasizes measuring its limits,
commonly called "thresholds". These limits define what can be sensed: our
access to the world. Our vision is sensitive to wavelengths of 400 to 700
nm, to contrasts down to 1%, and can accurately count up to 5 objects in
a glimpse. What we see at threshold depends less on what is around us and
more on the mechanisms underlying visual perception. Paradoxically, it is
where vision breaks down and ceases to mirror the world that we begin to
perceive vision itself.
Artists sometimes redefine perception, designing their works to produce
revelatory experiences that forever change how we see. Pushing the
limits. Consider Mondrian's Pier and Ocean series, culminating in
Composition in Line. The series successively represents the same scene,
each time with fewer and simpler elements, revealing and gauging our
ability to see by means of just these features.
Sometimes the two cultures converge, as in the illusory contours of
Ellsworth Kelly and Gaetano Kanizsa, or the faint gratings defining the
window of visibility of Agnes Martin and Fergus Campbell and John Robson.
The present scientific preoccupation with image segmentation and
transparency is mirrored in the huge illusory surfaces defined by Fred
Sandback's skant yarn sculptures.
Scientists may wish to think of their submissions as demonstrations:
images (or other stimuli) that reveal something about perception. Artists
and scientists may address the theme in any way they wish, but, in the
interest of creating a pleasing space, we discourage the use of CRT
monitors.
The Thresholds: Limits of Perception exhibition is part of the Arts
Biennial 1997. The opening of the exhibition will coincide with a
day-long symposium on vision at New York University (to be confirmed).
Both events are open to the public.
Anyone interested in submitting work for exhibition should notify us as
soon as possible, with a brief description.
Curators:
Denis Pelli
Professor of Psychology and Neural Science
New York University
(212)-998-8338
denis@psych.nyu.edu
Ana Maria Torres
Architect, Partner
Balmori Associates Inc
(203)-772-4074
ATorres174@aol.com