The "Fallacy" of the Perspective

This, here, is an exploration of the "fallacy" of the perspective:

I have explored and attempted to undermine basic assumptions that I have about the perceptual information with which I am presented. This is done in two main ways: 1) Through exploring the breakdown of information as it is passed through perceptual functions*, and 2) Through drawing attention to the fact of an illusion by exposing the structure of that illusion.

*Perceptual functions are modes of transmitting and recording information. Examples of perceptual functions are: projections, reflections, photocopies, photographs, video, painting, and of course memory. Perceptual functions represent information, and are not the information in and of itself. Distortion of the information as it is translated through a function is inevitable.

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Written 12/29/08, Berlin: I have noticed lately that I am very interested in the realization that almost everything that we know about the world can be thought of as knowledge that is derived out of its context, and out of certain assumptions made about that context. When the logic of the assumptions about contextual information breaks down, and when I am forced to reevaluate those assumptions, this is what I find to be particularly visually interesting. There is an aspect of this fundamental fascination in every work of art that I make.

An example: I look outside the window and am interested in the color change that occurs from one face of the building to the other. The assumption is that the two faces of the building share a common materiality, and what is causing the perceived shift in color is not a change in material, but a change in light.

A more complex example: I was riding in the subway on one of our first days in Berlin and looked at the reflection on the surface of the windows at the end of the subway car. I could clearly recognize the form of the overhead lights reflected in the windows. I saw the reflection of the lights tilting contrary to their axis in space. Before I had assumed that the windows of the back of the subway car lied flush against the same plane of the walls in which they rested, but having seen the reflection of the overhead lights made me realize that the windows into which I was looking were not aligned parallel/perpendicular with the walls of the subway car, but instead were tilted askew.

An elegant example: Man observes the sun, stars, and moon moving through the earth's sky. Therefore, man assumes that the sun, stars, and moon revolve around the earth. But of these three types of celestial bodies, only the moon revolves around the earth.

Arguably a more elegant example: I am present for everything that occurs in my life. I perceive everything that occurs in front of me as revolving about me. Conclusion: I am the center of the universe. This conclusion both is and is not true. It all depends on the defined perspective.