Monday, August 3, 2009

visual conversation


It's all about the conversation these days, whether I read up on things that are current on Seth Godin's blog, read Idealog magazine and a few others, surf international blogs and websites: the trend du jour is all about talking - the interaction that matters - rather then just following and absorbing. It's also about checking out that which interests us and what is genuine. No more fibs of advertising thank you, we'd rather discuss things on forums or at the pub which confirms our opinion. We tend to believe 'people like us' more then what we are told by organizations (read Idealog about more of this).

Adding on to above I'm going to bowl you over with something else entirely: language is generally not so much the words, it's what's being shaped in our mind when we hear and see, that draws the associated emotions. What is our inner radar telling us about what we're witnessing? What are we interested in? What is our make up? What really matters to us? Who are we really?
Have we ever considered that there may be other sources of information available to us, even if we do not consciously can verbalize what the message is, what the conversation is about? We can pick up more then we think and it seems scientifically proven that our consciousness does not reside just in our brain, because when we're declared brain dead, we can still observe and 'live'. (Read more about Pim van Lommel's research here and here.)
I've been interested in Crop circles since Nico and I literally stumbled over one during a holiday in England in the mid nineties. Nico and I were so impressed with the discovery in a wheat field that we ended up cruising around finding all these other designs. Walking through them was quite an experience. It was a bit of a hype at the time and I did a lot of reading up on it upon returning home, even communicating with professors and the like in the Netherlands getting down to the nitty gritty science of it. Heck I even ended up doing my art essay on cropcircles and land art in my senior year, comparing the two and discussing 'virtual language'.


For me the various 'explanations' of how crop circles could be physically made were interesting but not the most fascinating. What is incredible is the science and the visual aspects of it: over time the crop circles have increased to manifest in intricate and ever so complex patterns. The assumption that they are man made as an 'of course' seem doubtful when you realize the enormous size of them and the fact it would be a humongous and impossible task to manufacture them in the dark using rope and the like without denting the surrounding stalks and also without being caught. I'm not advocating some fluffy daisy theory but rather am open minded about alternative sources and the possibility and likelyhood of things happening in our world we may not yet comprehend. (It wouldn't be the first time and it would also be more interesting.)

Nowadays the attitude towards crop cirlces have been oh yeah whatever, some green hippies playing tag, but which ever it turns out to be, I have continued to find the images intriguing. They are a language, in a virtual form hat we are not as yet accustomed to. It's not so much about who the storyteller that's important as the effect, the visual image that is so compelling. It's not so strange that branding consist of a strong logo, excellent story and blow-me-down product.

Whatever technical evolved society we may end up in living, the basics are always, the human story, the interaction, the effect it has on us. The Power of Visuals in a nutshell.

So, what images are 'talking to you' lately?

1 comment:

  1. cool! Gaia is speaking ... ;-)
    just wondering, wow !
    life is a miracle...

    kees

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