This project is an attempt to understand the nature of the human scale. By scale, I mean our understanding of size. For we can say that we are big or that we are small, yet both of those words depend on a comparison to another form of size. By studying a “universal scale”, I’m trying to focus on the ratios of scale. Understanding the patterns of how size evolves in the physical world will give us a better understanding of size than any number could ever explain. Ratios are a tool for understanding scale independently of an egocentric world view.
OUR PLANET, ANOTHER BEING’S PUPIL, depicts an earth like planet a floating in the sky. The planet is painted to appear as the eye of an extraterrestrial being. I’m fascinated with the idea that our entire galaxy could be inside the body of another being. From what I understand about the patterns of our known universe, it seems that we must be a part of a larger form of intelligent life. Predicting what this life form may be is more complicated than trying to understand the nature of particle physics. In the last century we’ve focused on creating tools to study the matter to small for our eyes to see. I hope we will soon realize the next step is to study the nature of matter on a larger scale. Of course we don’t even know what it would mean to be inside of another life form, but I would like to encourage everyone to start thinking about how we could approach this question.
BACTERIAL PLANET, represents the earth in comparison to bacteria. On the one hand I was thinking about how the human race is eerily similar to bacteria. a few bacteria are harmless, but as they grow and multiply they can take over and destroy larger life forms like plants and animals. They are so small, but powerful by numbers. When a bacteria starts replicating inside of the digestive tract it’s feeding off of our ability to go out and collect food. As humans we may often think we’re more intelligent than bacterial life, but it really depends on how you define intelligence. The bacteria accomplish the goal to survive with less energy expenditure. They simply feast off of all our work. In a way this type of bacterial efficiency could be seen as a higher form of intelligence as compared to animal life.
The other idea brought about in this painting is is that life and the scale of bacteria is no more or less important than life at the human scale or even life at planetary scale. Each state of existence should be viewed with equal importance as at some level we’re all components of the same being. The bacteria are placed in outer space with an equal size to the earth to show this essence of inherent equality.
EMERGENCE OF THE NEXT NETWORK, is a summary guide explaining how the next level of a network will come into being. Step 1 is the natural emergence of a living nervous system. Step 2 is when the living nervous system gains enough intelligence to create an artificial nervous system. Step 3 is when the individual living nervous systems discover a way to unite and become one collective processing network. This linkage will likely happen through the artificial nervous system created in step 2. I think our society is only in the early phases of step 2. The closest thing we have to step 3 is our linkage through the internet, but the way the traffic is directed through this linkage is highly corrupt and biased which decreases the overall intelligence and effectiveness of the system. If we want to become a smarter species we will have to learn how to think together. For as long as capitalism is running our system of communications, we won’t be able to collectively progress further in this process.
*This painting is also a part of the “Communications” project… more information on “Communications” coming soon!