I. THE DREAM FACTORY
Shelley Lake, Freestyle, 2020, 56 frame animated GIF
Bioenergetics, technology, and aesthetics intersect on a virtual stage. Bioenergetics engages physical, intellectual, and emotional curiosity, unlocking a door to the inner workings of the bodymind.[3] Anatomy, the organic material that gives rise to our humanity—is the spiritual gateway to sensation, thought, and aesthetic experience. The ground of meaning begins with recognizing the action patterns of an organism and its relationship to the environment.[4]
Technology is the connective tissue—it is a mirror, it is a window, it is the wisdom of the ages. Technology is the bridge that unifies disparate fragments of self, technology is the thread that connects us to one another, and technology is the fuel that ignites our cultural imagination.
Aesthetics is the embodiment of matter, space, and time. Life is experienced through the bodymind. Meaning is profoundly influenced by a multitude of sensations. Even now, as you read these words, the sound of each syllable is silently spoken, heard, and actionated within the bodymind. Words on the page have a rhythm and a cadence that expresses more than an idea.
Three-dimensional scene simulation is the experimental bedrock of my interactive dream factory. My digital laboratory of imagination is a soft architecture[5] based platform that supports more than prefabricated figures and characters. It is a customizable “character engine” on a synthetic stage that helps give rise to a unique cast of avatars.[6]
The toolbox in the digital domain is so expansive that the outcome often exceeds the detail from the highest resolution cameras, because the process used in image creation is not optical—it doesn’t suffer from the limitations of a lens or the use of light-sensitive material.
Together, we render artworks inspired by the Language of the Body. We explore the creative possibilities attainable at the margins of technology, in search of new aesthetic experiences.[7]
[3] Alexander Lowen, Bioenergetics (New York: Penguin/Arkana, 1994).
[4] Mark Johnson, The Meaning of the Body: Aesthetics of Human Understanding (The University of Chicago Press, 2007), 98.
[5] Nicholas Negroponte, Soft Architecture Machines (MIT Press, 1976).
[6] Anonymous, “DAZ Technology,” Application Software, 2021, https://www.daz3d.com/technology/.
[7] A. Michael Noll, “The Digital Computer as a Creative Medium,” IEEE Spectrum 4, no. 10 (October 1967): 89–95.