From Void to Tale

Ever wondered at what point mere marks on a white surface transform into stories? These monochromatic pieces explore how basic visual features, including edges, gradients, and spatial frequencies, influence higher-level visual processes, such as object recognition and scene perception. Watch as the animation unfolds, stroke by stroke. When do points, lines, and shapes take on greater meaning?

*These videos are without sound.

Idea & Inspiration

While neuroscience delves into the internal mechanisms of visual processing, art externalizes vision, offering clues to its underlying framework. At an MIT course, I was inspired by Cezanne’s philosophy of providing "just enough information" in his artwork. This sparked my curiosity about human visual experience in object recognition, leading me to reflect on Chinese ink wash paintings. These artworks often utilize only shades of black, emphasizing the "essence" of a subject rather than realistic imitation. After coming across works by Guanzhong Wu, I found inspiration to create an ink painting using simplistic elements to depict a scene.

Creation Process

For my project, "From Void to Tale," I created several monochromatic Chinese ink wash paintings. I deliberately used only simple elements, such as lines, ink blobs, and basic shapes for each image. Then, I dissected the images and incorporated them into a series of videos. By revealing fragments of information at intervals, the viewer's senses are engaged in a gradual unfolding. Each snippet functions as a puzzle piece, offering glimpses of the work's details and forming a visual narrative over time. The overarching experience aims to explore how much visual information is necessary for one to make sense of a scene.

Used these tools to create the project

With the aim of providing an artistic display and ensuring an engaging experience for viewers, I chose to project my video onto a half-framed paper hanging on the wall.

A challenge I encountered was that the projector could only be angled at a certain degree, and the wall had a slope. Consequently, I utilized Premiere to create a mapped version of my final video, ensuring it appeared flat on the paper.

Appreciation

A huge thanks to the support of MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and MIT Center for Art, Science, and Technology for making this exhibition possible. I also want to express my gratitude to Seth Riskin, Pawan Sinha, and Ganit Goldstein for their help and guidance throughout the project.