From Phenomena in Nature to Microexpression Portraits

Marcel Duchamp divided art into the "retinal" and the "conceptual" — the former designed to be perceived by the eye, the latter to be grasped by the mind. The nature of an art experience is in some ways highly subjective and contextually complex. Recent work in the psychology of perception shows that visual perception is largely constructed by inference and imagination, rather than as a literal translation of direct sensory input. Pamela Davis Kivelson's work, Before Recognition, seeks to illuminate how the biology of the brain's functioning influences the perception of art. Current work explores the microexpressions that move rapidly across the face in the context of anxiety producing and ambiguous daily events.

View a QuickTime video of the installation at chambersprojects/la finestra, Los Angeles, California. Images by Pamela Davis Kivelson and Peter Bogdanoff; video/audio installation by Peter Bogdanoff.