Image of The Forest
Concept
How, as a society, can we gain agency over our physiological, psychological, and mental well-being in the reverberating relationship between us and our surroundings?
Image of The Forest raises the question of how, through the subjective process of artistic inquiry and objective scientific experimentation, we can universally describe the fundamental concepts underpinning the human perceptual experience of the complex spatial features forming the urban space.
Through the lenses of photography, spectral analysis, and neuroscience, we attempt to unveil the neural mechanism and provide yet unseen perspective onto the often invisible behavioral mechanics of the interaction between space and society.
The resulting artwork is an interplay between the complexity of visual forest scenery and the shift in the neural activity interacting in an infinite feedback loop with the unreachable goal of finding the personal representation of the ‘image of the forest’ - the essence of the spatial shapes and structures, that invites the viewer to explore opaque, dream-like spirits of human experience.
Authors
Photography
Neuroscience
Emotion AI
Environmental Psychology
Nature-Inspired Design
How, as a society, can we gain agency over our physiological, psychological, and mental well-being in the reverberating relationship between us and our surroundings?
Image of The Forest raises the question of how, through the subjective process of artistic inquiry and objective scientific experimentation, we can universally describe the fundamental concepts underpinning the human perceptual experience of the complex spatial features forming the urban space.
Through the lenses of photography, spectral analysis, and neuroscience, we attempt to unveil the neural mechanism and provide yet unseen perspective onto the often invisible behavioral mechanics of the interaction between space and society.
The resulting artwork is an interplay between the complexity of visual forest scenery and the shift in the neural activity interacting in an infinite feedback loop with the unreachable goal of finding the personal representation of the ‘image of the forest’ - the essence of the spatial shapes and structures, that invites the viewer to explore opaque, dream-like spirits of human experience.
Authors
- Sonia Litwin, SLab2.8
- Angela Vujic, MIT Media Lab
Photography
Neuroscience
Emotion AI
Environmental Psychology
Nature-Inspired Design
The Challenge
As a society we are suffering from stimulation overload.
Most often, our perception in the urban environment is not sustained, but rather partial, fragmentary.
At the same time we are visual creatures. This means that our experience of the ‘image of the city’ is to a great extent shaped by its aesthetics. By its structures and shapes. Image of The Forest raises the question of how, through the subjective process of inquiry and objective scientific experimentation, we can describe universally the human perception of complexity communicated in algorithms and nature.
We ask how we can gain agency over our physiological, psychological, and mental well-being in the urban space?
At the same time we are visual creatures. This means that our experience of the ‘image of the city’ is to a great extent shaped by its aesthetics. By its structures and shapes. Image of The Forest raises the question of how, through the subjective process of inquiry and objective scientific experimentation, we can describe universally the human perception of complexity communicated in algorithms and nature.
We ask how we can gain agency over our physiological, psychological, and mental well-being in the urban space?
The Process
The study utilizes the discrete Fourier transform to analyze spectra of the analog forest photographs, emphasizing how different complexity levels within an image can trigger changes in neural response.
With the use of Joie - an emotional AI system intended to modulate frontal brain asymmetries for emotion, we identify the level of abstraction of the binary forest structures required to achieve the same cognition-enhancing effect as forest viewing.
During this silent spectacle images of the forest dissolve in the frequency domain to create an infinite feedback loop with frontal alpha asymmetry, looking for an equilibrium in the power spectrum of complexity.
With the use of Joie - an emotional AI system intended to modulate frontal brain asymmetries for emotion, we identify the level of abstraction of the binary forest structures required to achieve the same cognition-enhancing effect as forest viewing.
During this silent spectacle images of the forest dissolve in the frequency domain to create an infinite feedback loop with frontal alpha asymmetry, looking for an equilibrium in the power spectrum of complexity.
Looking for ESSENCE of the forest by minimizing COMPLEXITY
Results
During this silent spectacle images of the forest dissolve in the frequency domain to create an infinite feedback loop with frontal alpha asymmetry, looking for an equilibrium in the power spectrum of complexity.
©2024 Sonia Litwin