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Steve Koller: Studio Writing #1

Perception, Culture, and the Studio


by Stephen Koller

I'd like to say I'm a jack of all trades; I enjoy doing a little bit of everything, and I pick new things up quickly. It's fascinating that people can learn things merely by watching and echoing with their own movements. Have you ever watched a video of someone who is quite good at what they do, and they inspire you and get you pumped to try it yourself? This happens to me just about every time I visit YouTube. Inevitably, I'll find myself watching guitarists, breakdancers, illusionists, artists, and soccer players: wishing that I could do what they do. I feel almost compelled to get up and start practicing something. The emergent Mirror Neurons theory provides a scientific rationale for why we can become so engrossed in actions that we're not doing. There are specific lobes in our brains that allow us to empathize with others, by linking external situations and actions with our own experiences. This was discovered through a special study that showed that monkeys who picked up a peanut registered the same brain activity as when observing a peanut being picked up by a human. This serves to illustrate why humans can get so caught up in movies, sports, or other such spectator activities: our brains are perpetually (often subconsciously) relating our selves to the big picture. I believe that this is partially what keeps us as humans from being indidualistic robots: at the structural level of our brains, we seek community.

In the grand scheme of things, art is community. Art is about the expression of ideas, emotions, stories, all of which make up our experiential existence. Through art, we can relate not only immediate truths, but also deeper, more complex meanings. In the interview with Alvin Noe, I learned that we perceive more than is immediately there; this is called the "problem of perceptual presence". This is why we can look at a work of art and initially only see the physical, rudimentary forms and colors. We initially identify things, such as trees, people, or buildings. This is known as finding the denotative meaning. Then only afterward do we begin to look at those elements in the context of each other, to find the connotative, or implied meaning. The implied meaning can actually take on different contexts varying on the viewer. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Everyone views things differently as a result of who they are, what they've experienced, and how they've experienced it. This is known as the idea of a "schema", or a certain way of viewing things based on preconceptions. Gender, age, culture, and many other things factor into a given person's schema. Thus, the most broadly-reaching art is that which deals with universal concepts.

Because we percieve denotative and connotative truths, this duality of perception must always be taken into consideration for studio work. We must remember that in order to create a powerful piece, it should have varying layers of meaning that can impact different people with different schema.

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