Upgrade Sofia presents:
Valeria Petkova and Petko Dourmana
Host: Margarita Dorovska
22nd December 2008, 18:00
Goethe Insitute Sofia
1 Budapesta St
The common ground between the scientific experiments of Valeria Petkova and the art installations of Petko Dourmana lies in generating experiences in which human perceptions reach beyond the way we generally encounter reality. For this purpose, both Petkova and Dourmana use technical devices, which engage our visual perception and thus address the reliability of the eyesight as a primary source for orientation in our environment.
By means of cameras and virtual reality head-mounted display (HMD), Valeria Petkova and her research supervisor Dr. Henrik Erschon succeed in creating the illusion of two bodies swapping. In a series of experiments, people recognize somebody else's body as theirs, by simply “borrowing” the other's viewpoint.
By means of night vision devices (NVD) and multimedia projectors working solely in the infrared part of the spectrum, Petko Dourmana achieves the effect of invisible projection. Initially invited in an empty space, with the help of the night vision goggles the visitor encounters the immersive environment of a speculative post global warming landscape.
Perceptual Illusion of Body Swapping
by Valeria Petkova
The concept of an individual swapping his or her body with that of another person has captured the imagination of writers and artists for decades. Although this topic has not been the subject of investigation in science, it exemplifies the fundamental question of why we have an ongoing experience of being located inside our bodies. The researchers report a perceptual illusion of body-swapping that addresses directly this issue. Manipulation of the visual perspective, in combination with the receipt of correlated multisensory information from the body was sufficient to trigger the illusion that another person's body or an artificial body was one's own. This effect was so strong that people could experience being in another person's body when facing their own body and shaking hands with it. These results are of fundamental importance because they identify the perceptual processes that produce the feeling of ownership of one's body.
Valeria Petkova and Henrik Ehrson work in the Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Their research is supported by grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Human Frontier Science Programme, and the European Research Council
Post Global Warming Survival Kit
by Petko Dourmana
Set in a world where nuclear winter was implemented as a radical solution to the global warming and flooding, the installation represents dwelling of a person who watches over the sea shoreline in a post-apocalyptic landscape almost devoid of organic life.
The experience of presented in low light installation and infrared projections that are visible only with night vision devices produces sensations of emptiness and fullness simultaneously.
The image processing used for the installation is based on the assumption that when much of the sun light is blocked out from reaching the surface of the earth as is in the nuclear winter scenario, seeing in infrared becomes more useful than seeing in the visible part of the spectrum.
http://www.dourmana.com
Post Global Warming Survival Kit is produced by Edith Russ Site for Media Art, Oldenburg with a six-month work grant in 2008. It is presented at Edith Russ Site for Media Art in the show “Brand_Dourmana” running from 29 November 2008 till January 2009.
www.edith-russ-haus.de
It is nominated for Transmediale 2009 Award and is going to be presented in the House of cultures of the world in Berlin from 28th of January till 2nd of February 2009
www.transmediale.de
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