People I have known: VI
Monday, December 2, 2002
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The eyes don't always have it
Professor shows how visual cues can deceive
UC Berkeley doesn't look quite the same after a stroll around campus with Marty Banks.
An expert on the visual system, Banks, with his colleagues, has collected about a dozen examples of optical illusions within easy walking distance of his laboratory in Minor Hall, headquarters of the UC Berkeley School of Optometry.
Banks, a professor of optometry and vision science, has devoted much of his career to experiments teasing out just how the eyes and brain put together the puzzle of the visual world. The latest example was detailed in the Nov. 22 issue of Science, showing how the brain is able to juggle two senses at once.
An interesting thing to me about this article is that it describes a thing that visual artists do all the time, which is visually constructing and deconstructing the world as they see it. Also, these kinds of optical illusions are the kinds of things that artists, even photographers, have to continually work with or against, either adjusting or emphasizing to create a satisfying image of some kind. Even abstract or non-representationl artists deal with these things; I italicize those to words because all visual art is abstract in some way, and always is a representation of something.
Raymond may be interested in this- Download Directly to Citation Manager- at Science Magazine.
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I am a big fan of Fresh Air. Raymond mentioned today listening to the interview with Robert Mankoff, cartoon editor for The New Yorker. This reminded me of one of my favorite interviews with painter Chuck Close. But there are so many others worth linking to.
Fresh Air is a marvellous resource, most archived for streaming (going back at least four years, maybe more), and I often listen while driving home after work or cooking dinner. I think one of the pleasures for me is being able to intimately listen to intelligent conversation without the need to participate and form words myself. I find that both stimulating and relaxing.
Say...
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