The Contextualization of Indigenous Dance Movement. A Critical Appraisal on Tatasoso Dance Performance

The level of misinterpretation place on some of our indigenous dance movement has really de-emphasis its communicative potency. In Africa, dance movements are perfectly combined, nice ingenuity in its creation and aesthetically attractive .All these qualities found in our indigenous dance movement, have reduce its context to just a mere entertainment or a source of cultural identification only. But this myopic understanding cum interpretation on indigenous dance movement has really been of great concern to professional dance scholars, thereby motivating them to redress people’s perception in seeing indigenous dance movement as a communicative, educative and informative tool by giving it a contextual interpretation – base on its theme, form, pattern and style. The essence of contextualization in indigenous dance movement especially that of the chosen case study Tatasoso is to x-ray the choreographer’s intention both emotionally, sociologically, environmentally and religiously while creating the dance movements. At this stage the theory of art for art sake becomes secondary while communicative interpretation in dance movement takes the upper edge. This paper therefore will critically appraise Tatasoso dance movement base on its contextualization for effective understanding

Visuality and the haptic qualities of the line in generative art

The line has an important and particular relationship with the generative artwork distinct from other elements such as the ‘pixel’, ‘voxel’ or the ‘points’ that make up point clouds. The line has a dual nature as both continuous and discrete which makes it perhaps uniquely placed to straddle the analog and digital worlds. It has a haptic or felt quality as well as an inherent ambiguity that promotes a relatively active interpretive role for the audience. There is an extensive history of the line in generative systems and artworks, taking both analog and digital forms. That it continues to play an important role, alongside other more photographically inspired ‘perceptual schemas’, may be a testament to its enduring usefulness and unique character. This paper considers the particular affordances and the ‘visuality’ of the line in relation to generative artworks. This includes asking how we might account for the felt quality of lines and the socially and culturally constructed aspects that shape our relationship with them. It asks whether, in what has been described as a ‘post digital’ or even ‘post post digital’ world, the line may offer a way to re-emphasise a more human scale and a materiality that can push back, gently, against other more dominant perceptual schemas. It also asks what generative art can learn from drawing theory, many of the concerns of which parallel and intersect with those of generative art

Seeing the light – finding the poetic content of design objects

This paper presents the process and initial results of a research through design project attempting to understand the poetic qualities of design objects. This exploration forms part of a PhD study addressing design artefacts as poetic objects - objects that both embed and conjure memory, association and imagination. The research examines the ways in which design objects can be poetic and how designers actively and knowingly use objects to poetic effect. It is proposed that the poetic content of design artefacts can be located on a continuum ranging from the experiential - relating to how we perceive things - to the reflective and cultural. What unites these levels is the capacity of design objects to reveal and change our way of looking at things. The practice uses the design of lighting as a vehicle for exploring the poetic meaning of designed objects more generally. Starting with the notion that lights do more than provide light, the current phase of practice examines the ways in which luminaires can mediate how we perceive and experience light and explores, in particular, the more nuanced and ephemeral qualities of light that escape conscious attention

The structure of experience, the nature of the visual, and type 2 blindsight

Unlike those with type 1 blindsight, people who have type 2 blindsight have some sort of consciousness of the stimuli in their blind field. What is the nature of that consciousness? Is it visual experience? I address these questions by considering whether we can establish the existence of any structural—necessary—features of visual experience. I argue that it is very difficult to establish the existence of any such features. In particular, I investigate whether it is possible to visually, or more generally perceptually, experience form or movement at a distance from our body, without experiencing colour. The traditional answer, advocated by Aristotle, and some other philosophers, up to and including the present day, is that it is not and hence colour is a structural feature of visual experience. I argue that there is no good reason to think that this is impossible, and provide evidence from four cases—sensory substitution, achomatopsia, phantom contours and amodal completion—in favour of the idea that it is possible. If it is possible then one important reason for rejecting the idea that people with type 2 blindsight do not have visual experiences is undermined. I suggest further experiments that could be done to help settle the matter

Embodied Cognition and Perception: Dewey, Science and Skepticism

This article examines how Modern theories of mind remain even in some materialistic and hence ontologically anti-dualistic views; and shows how Dewey, anticipating Merleau-Ponty and 4E cognitive scientists, repudiates these theories. Throughout I place Dewey’s thought in the context of scientific inquiry, both recent and historical and including the cognitive as well as traditional sciences; and I show how he incorporated sciences of his day into his thought, while also anticipating enactive cognitive science. While emphasizing Dewey’s continued relevance, my main goal is to show how his scientifically informed account of perception and cognition combats skepticism propagated by certain scientific visions, exacerbated by commonplace notions about mind, that jointly suggest that human beings lack genuine access to reality

Usar la filosofía de Wittgenstein para eliminar conceptos erróneos en la práctica de la danza. Un enfoque cuádruple

A fourfold use of Wittgenstein’s later philosophy in order to tackle fundamental conceptual misconceptions in the domain of dance practice is proposed: the extension to dance of the insights of his remarks on other arts, the application to dance instructions of his method of examination of the use of language, the extension to dance of the insights of his remarks on aesthetics, and the use of some of the fundamental concepts of his later philosophy, such as “aspect-seeing”, or “form of life”. In the first section, Wittgenstein’s paragraphs on Shakespeare are used in order to clarify the nature of representation, his remarks on architecture are used to shed light on the gestural character of a dance movement and to differentiate dance movement from mere bodily movement, and his remarks on music are used in order to elucidate the relation ship between a movement and its so called meaning. In the second section, an analysis looks at how language is used in the dance studio to tackle the problem of affectation in dance practice, and to propose measures to overcome this tendency, such as awareness of the use of the mirror in the studio. In the third section, Wittgenstein’s understanding of aesthetic satisfaction as something that clicks is understood as a tool to fight dualistic tendencies in dance practice. The fourth section discusses how insight into Wittgenstein’s concepts of “aspect-seeing” and “form of life” can contribute to superseding affectation. In dance, aspect seeing involves directing one’s gaze back to the movement in question. Instead of blaming the incorrect execution of a movement on a lack of dramatic skill on the part of the dancer, an approach that reinforces the idea of dance performance as a dualistic process, it can be attributed to aspect blindness, allowing for the redirection of the dancer’s attention to the movement. In this regard, it is proposed that dancers be helped to appreciate that a movement is charged with the atmosphere of a whole form of life. By understanding this relationship, it should become clear for dancers that expressivity is something that depends neither on their mental state nor on their ability to transfer the latter to the movement in question.Propongo un uso cuádruple de la filosofía madura de Wittgenstein con vistas a abordar confusiones conceptuales fundamentales en el ámbito de la práctica de la danza: extender a la danza aquellas de sus observaciones perspicaces sobre otras artes que sean relevantes, aplicar a las instrucciones de danza su análisis del uso del lenguaje, extender a la danza sus observaciones sobre la estética y usar en el contexto de la danza algunos de los conceptos fundamentales de su filosofía madura, tales como el de «ver aspectos» o el de «forma de vida». En la primera sección, se usan los parágrafos sobre Shakespeare de Wittgenstein para clarificar la naturaleza de la representación, sus observaciones sobre arquitectura para arrojar luz sobre el carácter gestual del movimiento de danza y para diferenciar un movimiento de danza de un simple movimiento corporal. Asimismo, sus observaciones sobre música se usan con el fin de dilucidar la relación entre un movimiento y su presunto significado. En la segunda sección, analizo cómo se usa el lenguaje en el estudio de danza con vistas a afrontar el problema de la afectación en la práctica de la danza y propongo una serie de medidas con el propósito de superar esta tendencia, como, por ejemplo, tomar conciencia del uso del espejo en el estudio de danza. En la tercera sección, la comprensión de Wittgenstein de la satisfacción estética como algo que hace click se propone como herramienta para encarar las tendencias dualistas en la práctica de la danza. La cuarta sección enfoca cómo la familiaridad con los conceptos de Wittgenstein de «ver aspectos» y «forma de vida» puede contribuir a superar la afectación. En la danza, ver aspectos supone reencauzar la mirada, enfocando de nuevo el movimiento en cuestión. En lugar de echar la culpa de una ejecución incorrecta de un movimiento a una falta de talento dramático por parte del bailarín, idea que refuerza la imagen de la representación de danza como un proceso dualista, se podría atribuir a la ceguera para los aspectos, y así reorientar la atención del bailarín al movimiento. De igual modo, se propone que los bailarines deberían ser llevados a apreciar que un movimiento ha de participar de la atmósfera de toda una forma de vida. Tras comprender esta relación, para el bailarín debería resultar evidente que la expresividad no es algo que dependa de su estado mental, ni de su habilidad para transferir ese estado mental al movimiento en cuestión

The Meaning of Movement: Using Motion Design to Enrich Words for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children

This thesis aims to address challenging areas of vocabulary for deaf and hard of hearing children by developing an open resource for students, parents, teachers, and content creators that utilizes motion to enhance written words for deaf and hard of hearing children. This research seeks to study the means of nonverbal communication such as body language expression and paralinguistic prosody (i.e., tone, intonation, volume, and pitch) qualities within the framework of graphic design through motion design. Body movement and expression are essential during face-to-face communication, but written language lacks such context clues. Additionally, the hard of hearing may not fully detect prosody within their range of hearing. This lack of information gathered through body language and paralanguage can be replicated with animated movement, which adds greater context to otherwise static text, enhancing insight into the meaning or use of a word. Seeing how a word in written form correlates with enhanced meaning through movement provides greater understanding and retention. This enhancement promotes improved communication in the world through graphic design. Motion design, specifically kinetic typography, offers a promising tool to help aid with language learning for continued exploration and development

Evaluating affordances of streams and rivers pertaining to children functioning in natural environment

This study evaluates the affordances of natural water bodies pertaining to functioning of children. Ten children, aged 4-12, were observed experiencing three streams and two rivers in tropical environment. A phenomenological approach yielded a dataset of the children’s behavioral responses derived from a behavioral mapping and an open-ended interview. The responses are physical movement and words and phrases of the children suggesting their preferences or dislikes toward the water settings. The data was analyzed in three stages, firstly, positive or negative affordances, secondly, a taxonomy affordance of children’s outdoor environment, and thirdly, level of affordances. The children experienced 78 positive affordances and only five negative ones. From the taxonomy, the water afforded 11 categories of environmental qualities in which the categories graspable/detached objects and water offered the most number of affordances, 16 and 15, respectively. Most of the children’s activities were performatory and exploratory types. The results suggest that children perceived the affordances of streams and rivers through physical, cognitive and social interactions. The children, therefore, perceived the water bodies as playscapes affording varieties of functional meanings

'Don't box me in': Blurred lines in 'Waking Life' and 'A Scanner Darkly'

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.This article seeks to evaluate the visual style of Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, predominantly through an analysis of the films’ aesthetics. The use of Rotoshop as an expressive means to illustrate character and theme, where identity becomes sketched and multi-faceted rather than fixed or stable is explored here. Yet this aesthetic play with borders has a greater resonance than simply a means by which to delineate thematic preoccupations with troubled identity. While such representations are indeed key to these two films, the darkly outlined contours of character borders, which move and slide incessantly, also comment on the blurred divide between live action and animation. Central to the argument is the use of the animated line in understanding these two films; the line provides impetus for exploring several issues raised by the films and the use of Rotoshop. This article explores the following key ideas: the animated line and aesthetic analysis; Rotoshop technology; the representation of fragmentary identity; and the relationship between photo-real cinema and animation, with a particular focus on narrative and spectacle. The author addresses Rotoshop within the context of technology and spectacle; taking industry practices into account allows for an appreciation of how a technological innovation such as Rotoshop can change the shape of live-action cinema