How much our descriptions of colour can convey our individual experience of colour is entirely subjective. As Josef Albers, famous for his lifelong experimentation with colour points out:”we will have different reds in our minds. Only the pigment red, the color by itself, is able to get all the different imaginations into the same direction. But the psychic reactions are still different“.
Aurelie Hoegy‘s performances, films and installations explore the more eccentric aspects of our behaviour : ” Behind the veneer of normality every person has a mysterious side that is waiting to surface. Everyone is full of life, passion and madness, visible or suppressed” . Her drawing illustrates her proposal for lamp with a 50 metre cable – an apt way to visualise the the inconvenience of everyday life.
Arakawa and Gins challenge the value environments that are easily accessible by asserting that health and wellbeing is maintained by living in more challenging environments. They collaborated to create a variety of environments that use features including vibrant colour, obstacles and uneven floors to create barriers in the environment as a deliberate means to challenge the user. Their thesis : Reversible Destinies, asks Could Architecture Help You Live Forever? proposes that by stimulating our senses to a conscious experience, architecture can be a means to extend life indefinitely.
Guidance on accessible environments often refers to the need to avoid high contrast patterns in flooring that can appear moving or three dimensional for people with visual or cognitive impairments. The confusing optical impact of this flooring in a Camper shoe shop in Valencia gave me first hand experience of what this might feel like. Its a challenge to walk across this floor but the impression is also mesmerising.
Use of high contrast in patterns has been used as a deliberate method to disguise objects and people has been widely used in military contexts. The most common is in camouflage of uniforms. Dazzle camouflage was an ingenious method that maximised the use of light and reflective qualities of water was used in WW1 to disguise ships. Could these interventions that confuse our vision be used in different contexts to attract attention and maintain interest?
A number of studies suggest that there are some universally agreed human aesthetic responses to natural environments. A study by Kakehashi (et al) has found certain colour combinations in Papilionade butterflies preferred by humans. Supported by findings from the field of neuroaesthetics, that colour harmony is aesthetically pleasing to humans , and in experimental psychology “that human perception of colour combinations in nature are perceived as harmonious” Her study using human preferences of butterflies has found:
and that : “We believe that the cognitive effects of processing fluency in these colour combination rules influence human aesthetic responses.”
Sometimes people living with dementia have difficulty recognising every day objects. This is not related to sight loss. They may have no issues with visual acuity when their sight is tested. In The Mind’s Eye , Oliver Sacks desccribes the impact of this form of agnosia, associated with post cortical atrophy that affects some people with dementia. These images are from a film Do I see what you see co created from accounts of people living with dementia by Created out of mind
give us some idea of living with this condition what this might be like
Can the power of images such as these that draw the viewer, and challenge our perception give us some insight into altered perceptions in dementia, and offer perhaps a captivating rather than a disturbing experience ? It is often said that some people living with dementia experience pattern as 3-dimensional or moving, and therefore potentially disturbing. In Realistic Magic: Objects, Ontology and Causality, Andrew Morton describes the:” aesthetic dimension as a the causal dimension.. you are working directly with people’s optic nerve and field of vision..” He describes his experience of viewing the paintings of aboriginal painter Yukultji Nanpangati :” The gaze emanates from the force field of a Napangati painting. It gathers me into it’s disturbing, phantasmal unfolding of zigzagging lines and oscillating patches.”.. ” At a distance it looks like a woven mat of reeds or slender stalks, yellowed, sun baked, resting on top of some darker, warmer depth. A generous, relaxed, precise, careful yet giving, caring lineation made of some blobby dots. The warmth reminds me of Klee. The lines remind you of Bridget Riley. As you come close and begin to face the image it begins to play, to scintillate, to disturb the field of vision. It oscillates and ripples,..”
I know what I like