Eames lecture
Representation: kymaerica and Eames Demetrios' talk:
I went to the showing of Powers of Ten today at noon and asked Eames Demetrios to talk a bit about his own work, particularly www.kymaerica.com.
I thought it was interesting that there seemed to be parallels between Powers of Ten, the way Charles and Ray Eames worked, and kymaerica. My interpretation is that just as in the film Powers of Ten, in kymaerica we (the viewer) are challenged to really SEE what we see. Or, put another way, we are encouraged to see the "familiar" in a completely fresh light.
Eames talked today about how "our brains can get in the way of perception." In this context, he mentioned that the purpose of the films by Charles and Ray Eames was to engage viewers in new ways of seeing. In a conversation I had with him after his talk he talked about how invented stories about a place can help draw our attention to that place in new ways and unleash more meaningful understanding of place–and that this was his purpose for kymaerica.
An example that came to his mind was the London Underground map: on the one hand it's completely made up and bears very little actual relationship to the physical and spatial reality of London, yet on the other it is an invaluable tool for helping people navigate the city. Kymaerica exploits this type of juxtaposition. He cited an example of a self-confessed "very unartistic person" who became highly attuned to the spatial and aesthetic details of her town, through experiencing the story and artifacts of the kymaerica version of it.
There's another interesting — “representation�-related — aspect of the work of Charles and Ray Eames: the idea that whatever they did, they tried to do it in the spirit of being the "host," with the viewer or audience being therefore the "guest." So they always tried to be as visually engaging as they could possibly be, and a lot of their thought went into this. He mentioned that they had said something along the lines of, "we're asking them (the audience) to give up nine minutes of their life to see this film, so it'd better be worth it for them!"
Comments
I agree that Kyaemarica is a new and interesting way to view the world around us, but perhaps instead of creating new stories and images about the world around us, we can instead create that for out world. I much prefer the realities, as harsh as they are, of Sue Coe. She exposes the worst of our society through her artwork, and opens peoples eyes to issues, instead of inventing new stories, and new realities of America.
Posted by: Jenny Parker | February 13, 2007 5:23 PM
It's interesting to hear what Demetrios has to say about his site. I have to say that initially I was a little confused about what the purpose of it is. I think being a graphic designer for as long as I have, my initial response to many things is to try to put order to them. Maybe that's just human nature- and not necessarily a trait we designers have. So, in looking through kymaerica, I was becoming frustrated trying to understand what it all meant. Eventually after muddling through it I started to understand that most of it is fictional. That really changed my perception of it, and I began to enjoy looking around. I'm not sure what this means as far as what Demetrios intended. . . I like the comment he made about our brains getting in the way of perception. This obviously was what was happening with me. I think it's great that I can see that and make a mental note to keep a more open mind when looking at things that at first glance don't make sense- "enjoy the ride!" Julie S.
Posted by: Julie Streitz | February 14, 2007 9:05 AM