alternative perspectives

Continuing some research into changing our perceptions, I found that George Stratton in the 1896 created a pair of upside down glasses for an experiment. These glasses vertically flipped the incoming light, making the image appear to be upside down. The paper, published in the Psychological Review, described that after a period of wearing the glasses for 8 days, Stratton found that his brain would auto-correct the image and that he could function normally. Other researchers have followed Stratton since, using various filter optical effects to change our perception.

As a side note, the work Upside Down Mushroom Room from artist Carsten Holler was inspired by Strattons research.

I’ve decided to post some of the work I’ve seen relating to this changing of visual perspective.

Macomber Farm
Macomber Farm

A project by New York agency ESI Design (in 1981) for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The aim of the project was to encourage visitors to empathize with animals and to understand their needs and behavior. Their solution was for Macomber Farm, creating 68 interactives that showed the world from the perspective of an animal.

“Sight Masks used fiber optics to simulate the optical systems of farm animals, giving visitors the unique opportunity to see like a cow (with almost 360 degree vision), a goat (through a square pupil) or a sheep (in black and white)”.

Watch video

Floating Eye
Floating Eye
(photo by Saxinger)

Floating Eye (2001), by Hiroo Iwata (VRlab), is an interactive installation that separates vision from the body. The participant can only see wide-angle image floating in the air. The image is captured by a wireless camera attached to an airship, pulled along by the user. The participants can see themselves from above, along with the surrounding area.

A large helmet provides the immersive experience. This helmet contains a convex mirror, with a projector mounted at the rear, so the image takes up the users whole field of view. The movie belows shows how this works.

Movie (10mb mpeg)
More images and video.

Inter Dis-Communication Machine
Inter Dis-Communication Machine
(photo:Kurokawa Mikio)

The Inter Dis-Communication Machine (1993), by Hachiya Kazuhiko, lets two participants see things from the other persons perspective. The site states “the concept to make it possible to kiss or to make love with the partner while keeping the machines on”.

Posted on April 27th 2007 under Alternative Reality