"Pasadena artist Ken Salter explores emergence in his evolving body of work called The Garden of Strange Loops. Emergence is a mathematical property where simple rules, applied repeatedly, lead to self-organizing systems whose complexity far exceed that of the underlying rules. From snowflakes to climate change, and flocks of birds to battalions of soldiers, emergence is the engine of creation and calamity — a secular explanation for, so-called, “acts of God.”
The focus of this work is emergence as it pertains to consciousness. This is the subject of cognitive scientist Douglas Hofstadter’s book, I Am a Strange Loop, which inspired the name for the work. The work is intended to provoke conversation, reflection and meditation on how the mind emerges from the brain.
This show features Reflecting Pool, the second device developed for The Garden of Strange Loops. Reflecting Pool is an interactive device that generates mesmerizing, neo-psychedelic, fractal images and sounds that captivate and hypnotize. The device responds to Tai-Chi s style movements of the viewer’s hands; immersing the viewer’s senses, mind and body into a holistic experience.
For the first time, the device will be accompanied by music for guided meditation. Reminiscent of a 60’s liquid light show, images pulsate to the timeless and sublime music of Mazzy Star. Though pre-programmed, the process that generates the images uses light. Hence each playback is as unique and ephemeral as a campfire.
The choice of music is deliberate. Mazzy Star’s second album and title track, So Tonight That I Might See, is to the ears what Reflecting Pool is to the eyes. The song’s title is a cry for transformation and enlightenment. The audio-visual experience is intended to inch the viewer closer to that elusive state. This song and a handful of others, including Look on Down from the Bridge and Bells Ring, are part of the experience."
https://www.artweek.com/events/united-s ... sic-mazzy#
Videos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BrYoU1QlLYv/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs1doDsF5F4/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqGKQhpgCfg/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSzw68S44sg
