VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES

THE TECHNOLOGIES OF VISION RANGE FROM THE VIEWER’S NEUROLOGICAL SYSTEM

THROUGH OUR EMBODIED DISPOSITIONS:
1. THE EFFECT OF THE WORLD UPON US
2. THE EFFECT OF OUR OWN HABITUS
3. THE PERSPECTIVE FROM WHICH WE VIEW AN IMAGE,
4. THE LINES, TEXTURES AND COLOR OF AN IMAGE
5. THE USE OF OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS
THESE LATTER DEVICES—VISUAL TECHNOLOGIES WHICH HAVE CONTINUED TO BE
DEVELOPED FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD RIGHT THROUGH TO THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY—HAVE CHANGED THE WAY WE SEE, AND THE WAY WE PERCEIVE OURSELVES
AND/IN THE WORLD, BY PROVIDING FRAMES, FOCUS AND BOTH MONOCULAR AND LINEAR
PERSPECTIVES.
EX.: DINOSAURS LUMBER ACROSS SCREENS, MOVING PRECISELY LIKE LIVING
CREATURES; AND IN TEXTS LIKE TOMB RAIDER, CONFECTIONS OF PIXELS—V-
ACTORS (VIRTUAL ACTORS)—ARE BECOMING ALMOST INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM
HUMAN ACTORS.
NO VISUAL IMAGE CAN BE TRUSTED, BECAUSE ALL ARE POTENTIALLY ABLE TO BE
DIGITALLY ENHANCED OR MANIPULATED.
LEIF FINKEL – A BIO-ENGINEER WRITES OF THE PERPLEXITIES OF VISION:
“WE GROPE OUR WAY, LARGELY IN THE DARK, ABOUT OUR RESPECTIVE CAVES. THE
WORLD, TO A LARGE EXTENT, IS A VISION OF OUR OWN CREATION. WE INHABIT A
MIXED WORLD OF SENSATION AND INTERPRETATION, AND THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN
THEM IS NEVER OPENLY REVEALED TO US. AND AMID THIS TENUOUS SITUATION, OUR
CORTEX MAKES UP LITTLE STORIES ABOUT THE WORLD, AND SOFTLY HUMS THEM TO
US TO KEEP US FROM GETTING SCARED AT NIGHT. (FINKEL 1992: 404)”
 COMMUNICATION AND THE VISUAL
IN THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER, WE OUTLINED SOME OF THE CENTRAL MECHANISMS AND
TECHNIQUES BY WHICH PEOPLE MAKE SENSE OF WHAT THEY SEE, THAT IS READING THE
VISUAL. WE HAVE LEARNED THAT SEEING IS A KIND OF READING, ONE WHICH MAKES USE OF
PARTICULAR TECHNOLOGIES AND VARIOUS SKILLS IN FRAMING, SELECTING, EDITING AND
DECODING THE VISUAL MATERIAL THAT SURROUNDS US.
OFTEN, WE RELY ON HABITUAL WAYS OF SEEING AND MAKING SENSE OF WHAT WE SEE.
VISUAL LITERACY
➢IN CONTRAST, IS A VERY COMPLEX PRACTICE WHICH DEMANDS MORE THAN JUST
EVERYDAY PRACTICES
➢IT REQUIRES SPECIFIC SKILLS IN THE PROCESSES OF SEEING AND READING
➢THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REPRESENTATION AND REALITY
➢THE WAYS IN WHICH VISUAL EXPERIENCES ARE ALSO MOMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
WHAT TO DO IN THIS CHAPTER:
➢WE TRACE SOME OF THE CENTRAL IDEAS OF WHY WE DECODE TEXTS IN
PARTICULAR WAYS
➢HOW THE ‘TRUTH’ EFFECT (OR REALITY EFFECT) OF VISUAL EXPERIENCE
WORKS TO COMMUNICATE IDEAS AND IDEOLOGIES WITHIN CULTURES
➢WE NEED TO LEARN HOW TO DEFAMILIARIZE THE PROCESS OF SEEING
➢DEVELOPING THE LITERACIES THAT ALLOW US TO RECOGNIZE THE EXTENT
TO WHICH WE SEE THROUGH THE FRAMES OF OUR CULTURAL LOCATION
➢DEVELOPING SKILLS IN ANALYZING HOW VISUAL CULTURE ACTS AS A MEDIUM
OF COMMUNICATION
 THE ‘SEEING SUBJECT’
SEEING IS ON THE ONE HAND AN AUTOMATIC, PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTION WE PERFORM WITHOUT
THINKING AND, ON THE OTHER, A COMPLEX AND ABSORBING PROCESS. (EYES ARE WINDOWS TO THE
SOUL)
HERE ARE SOME WRITERS, PHILOSOPHERS AND SOCIAL SCIENTISTS HAVE LONG WRESTLED WITH
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ‘SEEING SUBJECTS’: HUMAN BEINGS WHOSE FEATURE CHARACTERISTICS ARE
THAT THEY ACCESS THE PHYSICAL AND INTELLECTUAL WORLD THROUGH VISION. SEEING, AND
MAKING SENSE OF WHAT WE SEE, ARE THUS NEITHER SIMPLE NOR NATURAL.
➢BATES LOWRY - AN ART HISTORIAN, NOTES THAT OUR ABILITY TO SEE IS SIMILAR TO OUR ABILITY
TO SPEAK: ‘WE ARE NOT BORN WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO SEE, ANY MORE THAN WE ARE
BORN WITH A KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO SPEAK ENGLISH. WE ARE BORN ONLY WITH THE ABILITY TO
LEARN HOW’ (1967: 13).
➢W.J.T. MITCHELL - A PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH AND ART HISTORY, EXTENDS THIS SENSE OF THE
COMPLEXITY OF SEEING, BY DRAWING A DISTINCTION BETWEEN READING (‘DECIPHERMENT,
DECODING, INTERPRETATION’) AND SPECTATORSHIP, OR ‘JUST LOOKING’ (MITCHELL 1994: 16).
(WHAT WE SEE IS NOT WHAT WE GET)
➢VICTOR BURGIN, A BRITISH ARTIST AND WRITER, EXPLAINS THIS IN WRITING
ABOUT THE ACT OF LOOKING AT A PHOTOGRAPH OF A SET OF STONES: ‘IF I GO
ON TO REMARK THAT THE PHOTOGRAPH DEPICTS A TEMPLE, THAT THE
TEMPLE IS RUINED, AND THAT IT IS GREEK, THEN I AM RELYING UPON
KNOWLEDGE THAT IS NO LONGER “NATURAL”, “PURELY VISUAL”; I AM RELYING
UPON KNOWLEDGE THAT IS CULTURAL, VERBALLY TRANSMITTED AND, IN THE
FINAL ANALYSIS, IDEOLOGICAL’ (BURGIN 1999: 45). WE ARE NOT JUST LIVING
CREATURES WHO NOTICE WHAT IS AROUND US, BUT SUBJECTS—INDIVIDUALS
IN SOCIETY—WHO LEARN TO SEE IN PARTICULAR WAYS, AND FOR PARTICULAR
PURPOSES.
➢WILLIAM JAMES – AN AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGIST AND PHILOSOPHER
MENTIONED HOW NEUROLOGICAL/ PHYSIOLOGICAL INFORMATION MAKES
SENSE OF HOW PEOPLE SEE AND WHAT THIS MEANS ABOUT HOW THEY
UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES AND THEIR WORLD.
➢SIGMUND FREUD – A PSYCHIATRIST WHO MADE MUCH OF THE DEVIANCE HE
CALLED ‘SCOPOPHILIA’, OR THE DESIRING GAZE WE BEND UPON THE WORLD—‘I
AM WHAT I DESIRE; AND I DESIRE WHAT I GAZE UPON (1905).
➢JACQUES LACAN – A PSYCHOANALYSTS WHO FOLLOWED AND DEVELOPED
FREUD’S THEORIES, ARGUED THAT IDENTITY EMERGES AT WHAT HE CALLS THE
‘MIRROR STAGE’ (LACAN 1977), THE POINT AT WHICH A SMALL CHILD CAN
RECOGNIZE ITSELF AS AN INDIVIDUAL, SEPARATE FROM ITS MOTHER AND FROM
ALL THE OTHER MATTERS OF THE WORLD.
➢CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS – AN ANTHROPOLOGIST WHO MAKES SENSE OF THE LIFE,
VALUES AND ORGANISATION OF TRADITIONAL CULTURES BY ANALYSING THE
SORTS OF CLOTHES THEY WEAR, THE SHAPE OF THE DWELLINGS THEY BUILD, AND
THE COLOURS, LINES AND TEXTURES OF THEIR DECORATIVE ART.
➢STUART HALL – A CULTURAL THEORIST WHO TAKES A SIMILAR APPROACH IN
ANALYSING CONTEMPORARY CULTURES: THEY ARGUE THAT THE WAY IN WHICH
VISUAL OBJECTS ARE PRODUCED AND DISPLAYED, AND WHAT COUNTS AS
BEAUTIFUL OR AS VALUABLE TELL US A GREAT DEAL ABOUT WHAT THAT SOCIETY’S
VALUES ARE, WHAT SORT OF MEANINGS (OR STORIES) ARE DOMINANT, AND WHO
HAS POWER IN THE COMMUNITY.
➢HENRI LEFEBVRE – A THEORISTS OF SPATIALITY, ANALYSES VISUAL CULTURE AS
DATA THAT CAN BE USED TO EXPLAIN EVERYDAY LIFE. THE INTERIOR DESIGN AND
THE SCALE OF A HOME OR PUBLIC BUILDING, FOR EXAMPLE, GIVE CLUES TO THE
VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUALS WHO OCCUPY THOSE SPACES; THE DESIGN OF A MAP
CAN SHOW HOW A SOCIETY UNDERSTANDS SPACE AND DIMENSIONS.
➢FREDRIC JAMESON (AN AMERICAN LITERARY CRITIC, PHILOSOPHER AND
MARXIST POLITICAL THEORIST) & JEAN BAUDRILLARD (A FRENCH SOCIOLOGIST,
PHILOSOPHER AND POET WITH INTEREST IN CULTURAL STUDIES) – BOTH WRITERS
WHO ANALYZED VISUAL CULTURE AS INSTANCES OF WHAT IS CALLED
POSTMODERNISM: A SET OF THEORIES AND PRACTICES WHICH DESCRIBE THE
CONTEMPORARY WORLD AS A KIND OF MTV CLIP, A PLETHORA OF IMAGES
WHIRLING IN PROMISCUOUS UNCERTAINTY (OR, AS MOE FROM THE TELEVISION
CARTOON ‘THE SIMPSONS’ DEFINES IT, POSTMODERNISM IS ‘WEIRD FOR THE SAKE
OF WEIRD’).
➢PAUL VIRILIO - A FRENCH CULTURAL THEORIST, URBANIST, ARCHITECT AND
AESTHETIC PHILOSOPHER WHO HAVE TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO DIGITAL
COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AS PROVIDING WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING
QUESTIONS OF REALITY AND VIRTUALITY. THROUGHOUT THE LITERATURE, IT
SEEMS, OUR UNIVERSE—FROM THE WIDEST SWEEP OF SPACE AND HISTORY TO
THE MOST SECRET INNER SELF—IS UNDERSTOOD AS SOMETHING WE GRASP
THROUGH VISION AND THE METAPHORS OF SEEING.
• CONTRIBUTION OF THE WRITER, PHILOSOPHER AND SOCIAL
SCIENTIST REGARDING THE “SEEING SUBJECT”.
• SHORT BIOGRAPHY
• PRESENT YOUR POWERPOINT ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2024
• 10 REPORTS/10 GROUPS (VICTOR BURGIN, WILLIAM JAMES,
SIGMUND FREUD, JACQUES LACAN, CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS,
STUART HALL, HENRI LEFEBVRE, FREDRIC JAMESON, JEAN
BAUDRILLARD & PAUL VIRILIO)
• INDICATE
THE NAMES OF YOUR MEMBERS ON YOUR
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION