Dreams

"Indeed, even among these recent events, we failed to dwell on the most interesting in our dreams. 'Contrary to the folk-psychological belief that we dream only of the most important events in our lives, the memory sources identified by participants were not necessarily events of any significance to the dreamer,' explains Dr. Wamsley.

'One fifth of all memory sources were described as 'not at all important' to the dreamer, while approximately half, 47 per cent, were described as being less important than an average waking event.'" (from a Telegraph article; author Roger Highfield)

Rock, Andrea. The Mind at Night: The New Science of How and Why We Dream. New York: Basic Books Publishing, 2005. This exceptionally lucid and engaging work of science writing explicates breakthroughs in the study of the dreaming mind from the 1950s to the present day. Rock, an award-winning medical and science reporter, proves a crisp and thorough storyteller as she portrays the professional tensions among scientific innovators and delineates theoretical controversies (in which the legacy of Freud looms large). She frequently cites interviews with neuroscientists and psychologists, bringing out the drama of their intellectual struggles.

Lately, my dreams have been so vivid that I often, within the dream, become confused about whether or not I am actually conscious. Though the environments and situations clearly could not exist in reality, my emotional and physical senses are so piqued that my mind seemingly rejects the clues that suggest what I am experiencing is not real. I also find the space between sleep and consciousness much longer and more confusing, requiring several minutes after waking to differentiate between dream and reality. Often, these dreams have such blatant metaphors to the things currently occurring in my life that I almost become frustrated by the simplicity of the interpretation, as if I'd just written an angsty, obviously deciphered poem.

This, like memory, has become an aspect of my work.

Kay Jan

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I believe this artist's name is Kay Jan - I could find very little about her on the internet aside from her blog and flickr page, but I am quite drawn to her photography. Her imagery has an ethereal quality that feels as though it's pulled from a dream you can't quite remember.

Flickr

Blog

Memory

Dr. Todd Sacktor at State University of New York–Brooklyn has gone one step further. He has hypothesized that some synapses in the brain contain a special enzyme called protein kinase M zeta (PKM zeta), which allows them to store long-term memories. It works, essentially, like a computer's hard disk. "The patterns of the 0s and 1s store the memory," says Sacktor. "If a synapse has PKMZ it's twice as strong as one that does not. And it's the pattern of whether this enzyme is in the synapses that stores long term memories." Enzymes can be inhibited with drugs injected into particular areas of the brain, Sacktor says. In his experiments, Sacktor taught rats how to run a maze, then used drugs to inhibit the enzyme in their brains—thereby erasing their memories of the maze (a related lab will soon test the enzymes on nonhuman primates). Within a few minutes of the drug wearing off, the rats were able to store new memories on the synapses, so no damage was done to the brain.

Humans have this same enzyme, Sacktor says, so theoretically, the memory-erasure part of Dollhouse is possible, though, unlike the show, no fancy-looking equipment is needed to do it. But using the drugs doesn't selectively erase memories; it will erase all memories from the area of the brain where it is injected—injecting into the hippocampus, for example, will remove all episodic memories about a person's life, but leave them with a general knowledge about the world. If taken orally, however, the drugs will erase all memories, leaving the subject like a baby, unable to speak or walk. "I think it's quite possible that you would simply have to re-teach somebody everything," says Sacktor. "You might as well just be a [normal] spy. Why erase someone's memory and replant it if it's going to take years to restore all the basic knowledge?" (from article in Popular Mechanics, author Erin McCarthy)

Gilbert, Susan, Nelson, Aaron P. Harvard Medical School Guide to Achieving Optimal Memory. Columbus, McGraw Hill: 2005. his is the latest, best information on how to make your memory the best it can be, from a leading doctor in the field. It covers how much lifestyle factors such as sleep, nutrition, and exercise, affect memory, how to tell if you need to see a doctor, and gives proven ways to build your memory power. It is written by a world-renowned authority at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's, consistently ranked as one of the leading hospitals in the U.S.


Memory, both its importance and its fallibility, is starting to play a larger role in my work. Memory triggers, the facets of certain memories which either deteriorate or become exaggerated with time, and how some things you wish to erase are seemingly permanent while others you desperately cling to can fade against your will.... all these things have become a significant focus of mine in creating imagery.

Moore's Law

"Moore's law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware. Since the invention of the integrated circuit in 1958, the number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has increased exponentially, doubling approximately every two years. The trend was first observed by Intel co-founder Gordon E. Moore in a 1965 paper. It has continued for almost half a century and in 2005 was not expected to stop for another decade at least.

Almost every measure of the capabilities of digital electronic devices is strongly linked to Moore's law: processing speed, memory capacity, even the number and size of pixels in digital cameras. All of these are improving at (roughly) exponential rates as well. This has dramatically increased the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the world economy. Moore's law describes this driving force of technological and social change in the late 20th and early 21st centuries."

Brock, David. Understanding Moore's Law: Four Decades of Innovation. Philadelphia, Chemical Heritage Foundation: 2006. This new book places the silicon revolution in a broad context and charts Gordon Moore's development of his eponymous law across its 40-year life.



I used to be such a purist when it came to photography. I only wanted to use my 35mm, I only wanted to work in the darkroom. Everything else was recreation, not art. I still have very mixed feelings about the intertwining of technology and art, ranging from the inclination to shy away from it and sheer awe at the possibility of its uses. In my recent work, I've been using film stills primarily because the aesthetic suits the subject matter. It makes me nervous to not have my hand visible in what I'm doing, to work without a variety of materials at my impulsive fingertips. But I've realized with this particular body of work, the "improper" use of technology in creating the final images has become a similar means of execution and something I must continue to explore.

Jackson Eaton

Jackson Eaton (1980 - ) is an Australian photographer whose work has been shown in galleries in Malaga, Seoul, Arles, Paris, and Chicago since 2007. He has also been published in various international magazines and currently is part of a group exhibition in Malaga, Spain.





Website

Gallery Noon is a gallery in Seoul in which Eaton had a solo show, but there is no website. No interviews or reviews currently exist on the internet.

Computational Neuroscience

"Researchers from Japan’s ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the images inside a person’s mind and display them on a computer monitor, it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers, further development of the technology may soon make it possible to view other people’s dreams while they sleep.

The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.

Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.

For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white images. But Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, suggests that improving the measurement accuracy will make it possible to reproduce images in color." (I'm unsure of the original source of this article - I found the same one on various news sites)

This is absolutely fascinating and terrifying to me. As a child, I remember thinking, "I wish I could hook a computer up to my mind while I sleep so I could watch my dreams over in the morning." The possibility is looking increasingly more likely.

My dreams of late have been especially vivid and even in waking, I sometimes have flashes of inconsequential moments from my childhood. This certainly plays a role in my work. Art, for me, has almost always largely been a means of expressing those wordless thoughts and feelings which would otherwise linger internally. The idea that one day, a machine might be able to do something similar is... staggering.

Andy Goldsworthy

Andy Goldsworthy (born 26 July 1956) is a British sculptor, photographer, and environmentalist who produces site-specific sculpture and land-art situated in natural and urban settings. His art involves the use of natural and found objects, to create both temporary and permanent sculptures which draw out the character of their environment.

"I was always going to be an artist, since I was a kid, but the impact that farming had was tremendous. It's a very sculptural activity. Not just dry stone walls but stacking bales — big minimalist sculptures, beautiful and enormous. Plowing a field is drawing lines on the land, painting the fields — it's incredibly visual. And the dead animals. When you're a farm kid you see death all the time. When you see spring lambs hopping around the fields and then go round the back of the farm, there's a pile of dead lambs every year — that's the way it is. Dogs attacking sheep, raw brutal experiences and they've always remained in what I do." - Andy Goldsworthy






Website (Digital Catalog - no official website)

Interview

Gallery