Page 54 - Studio International - May 1971

Towards an
understanding of
the within
Andrew Dipper
Space is a direct concept since it is the medium
by which the observer establishes his
relationship to the object observed. The
observer in this case is an active Participator in
the relationship, and his knowledge of the object
is as much to do with his structuring of the
information about the object as it is to do with
the object's own innate structure; but the space
between the two objects has its own interactive
systems whose structural qualities can be
explored at some length.
All objects extend into and are surrounded by
space. To establish the position of an object in
space we need only three co-ordinates and a
time span, since any object which is perceivable
by us needs to exist for a certain amount of time.
The nature of man's relationship to any object
through the medium of space must presume the
object to have an outside—that part of it which
we are in sensory contact with—and an inside,
which, because we are on the outside of all
objects, we can never experience. If I were to
cut an object in half, its inside would not be
revealed—only a continuation of its outside
surface; just as if the object were cut under
water the water would flow over the new
surfaces affecting them as in the spatial context.
As an object emerges into space it can be seen
and measured, but preceding it in a dimension
outside space and time lie other possibilities.
Any visual information about objects
depends on the light reflected from the outside
surface of that object. Radiation coming from
the sun is not in wavelengths visible to the
human eye; it is only when it reaches the
atmosphere of the planet that it is turned into
visible light. If we take a box and put a small
pinhole in one side and a sheet of tissue paper
over the opposite side and look at the tissue
paper from the outside while holding the box
towards a window or other strong light source,
we will see an upside-down image of the light
source on the paper. The pinhole has no
ability to 'suck' in the light from the object; it
simply is a device for excluding all other light
that is not relevant. The image already exists
in the place of the pinhole. If you turn the box
but keep the pinhole in the same position in
space, you will get a different image. The point
of space at the position of the pinhole has nearly
an infinite capacity for containing information
about the world around it, and so it is for all
points in space.
I am facing an object, which is a teacup
placed on a table. Its handle is pointing
towards the left. If I walk around the object so
that I am opposite the position where I started,
facing the cup again, the handle will be on my
236
right. The nature of the movement I have made
through space has turned the cup into a right-
handed one. If I now go back to my starting
position and look at the cup and turn it through
1800 it will turn into a right-handed one. This is
a very simple example, but it impresses the
active nature of space. If I were to perform this
same experiment at the geographical North
Pole, all directions would be South—but the
change would still take place. Change is not,
then, a function of movement eastness or
westness, but of a direct quality of the nature of
space.
The orientation of the visual images in the
picture plane is for the most part dependent on
the organs of balance, those semicircular canals
inside the head, behind and on top of each of the
ear mechanisms.
There are two simple experiments which are
quite dramatic and will go some way towards
establishing this idea, the importance of which
is that the eye can never be explained in terms
of a film-camera analogy. There is a constant
cross-referencing of all types of signals with the
visual ones to provide a clear picture of the
outside world. It has even been suggested by
some experiments that some degree of
information discrimination goes on on the surface
of the retina. which acts in a computer-type
analogy.
Stand in the middle of the floor facing the
teacup and start to spin round in a clockwise
direction, gaining as much momentum as
possible. If you then stop suddenly the visual
image will move off to your left, upsetting your
orientation further and possibly making you
feel very sick.
Secondly, when you are in the bathroom fill
one of your ears up with warm water. Keep it
there for some time and let it run out. When you
do this it will heat up the liquid in one of your
cochlea and cause it to expand. This process
effects an imbalance in the signals from the
balance organs to the brain causing both the
visual image and the centre of gravity of your
body to appear to alter orientation.
The part that the total picture of 'teacup on
table' plays in orientation can be explored by
sitting in a fully darkened room and looking at a
light source such as the tip of a burning
cigarette. Because there is nothing to tie down
the image, after a short time it will appear to
move wildly all over the picture plane.
The need for discrimination in acceptance of
information is obvious if the art of perception
is to be informative. This way of thinking
strengthens the kind of ideas which do not allow
for any flexibility in the concept of the nature of
space. The need for mechanical locomotion is
existent because we have not yet tried to put into
practice some ideas such as going from place to
place without going through the space in
between. Certain sub-particles of the atomic
nuclei when aimed and accelerated towards one
of two holes in a steel plate will go through both
holes at the same time without splitting, as
though they were one and the same. q