Artsensorium Lab
Cynthia Harrison - Imma Jiménez - Cristina Miranda de Almeida
A drome is a course or a place for a special purpose (like in hippodrome, a course for horses to run). A lightdrome is a place for light to run, in our case to be transferred from one person to another.
The objective of the collaboration is to experiment with the hypothesis that thought images can be transferred from one person to another. Three artists collaborate in the group to develop a process of transferring images through space in an experiment of art by telepathy. The term “telepathy” (Myers 1882) means “feeling at a distance”. Telepathy is essentially mind-to-mind contact, to exchange information between people separated by distance. In the last years, science sought to understand the phenomenon (H2020 on human-computer interaction, EEG and other methods). However, compared to brain–computer interface (BCI) -that is a direct communication pathway between a wired brain and an external device-, in telepathy there is no intermediate interface, it is a direct mind-mind experience. According to Crookes “thoughts and images may be transferred from one mind to another without the agency of the recognized organs of sense”. This author claims that in the exchange between brain of A and the brain of B “there must exist a train of physical causes” that invites us to modify our definition of “physical” to include subtle energies in order to understand what happens.
In Thoughts Through Space, Wilkins (1942) explained a 5-month experiment during his explorations in the Artic in which he was meant to send impressions to his colleague Sherman. Wilkins recorded events in his log and compared with Sherman’s impressions.
The main objective is to artistically explore the transferring of images between 3 artists, from 3 different locations.
Based in experiment, we develop a similar experience by drawing at distance (between Australia and Spain). Each time one of the artists transmit the image of one object while drawing it, and the other 2 ‘receive’ the image and draw it. Then all images are compared to the object and to the drawings. After that analysis of the main elements that have been transmitted is developed.
Controlled experiments are showing positive results (object transmitted+3 drawings received). Transmitted images can be compared to the final drawings (see photos).
The 4 images represent the work done in one session. Image 1 on the left is the object. Image 2 is the drwaing done in Belgium by the person that had the object. Image 3 is the drawing done by one of the partners in Australia. Image 4 is the drawing done by a partner in Spain. All drawings were made on real time. No image treatment was included.