Clearly impossible : Constructing the phantom

Abstract

How can light and space influence our consciousness and the shape of the perception? Dematerialization is a mean to alter our perception to this physical world -- Materials lose their sense of solidity and lights reconstruct the surfaces of the space and objects. This thesis project is to visually eliminate the boundaries of the objects and the space by playing the notion of visible and invisible. It constructs a "in-between reality", where individual elements begin to lose their clarity, the moment in which objects merge with the foreground and background. The intention was not to make the object completely disappear, but rather to heighten our sense of reality, by confronting our expectations of the physical space with surreal objects that nevertheless exist. The research works at the level of the table-top experiment to better understand the phenomenon of "disappearing" and gain control of it. The fundamental strategy is to maintain the exact same luminance levels for each surface of the objects in order to eliminate the boundaries of the objects and space. In a diffused lighting condition, part of the light comes from reflection and part comes from transmission. Each aspect of the light could be controlled by the organization of the material and the thickness of the material. Since the wall is white, visually I get the same whiteness when I keep the same luminance level on different surfaces. Thus, I merge the foreground, object and background. All together the view fades to white. The final Installation project is discussing how this phenomenon reacts to the body movement. Therefore, I am constructing a illusion machine where we control the "true illusion" perception by ourselves. In this sense, we are the illusionist as well as the spectator. I move; therefore, I see.