I found it fascinating how Sean Cubitt detailed the history of projection, and how it diverged from eastern ideas of reflection. One of the interesting insights/theories of the author is that he has the sneaking suspicion that art is simply a way to “cheat or outlive death”. He brought up that many believe art to be projecting inner life onto external objects, which in my opinion is a valid theory that can’t quite be proven. The author detailed how projection is often simply a matter of perspective, for example, it isn’t uncommon to see an upside-down map in Australia, whether as a commentary about subjectivity or simply as a joke.
Cubitt proposes that we consider the possibility that projection is the manner in which all entities, both organic and inorganic, radiate their signatures across space and time. In my opinion this could be a fitting theory as obviously humans and animals are not the only things that project themselves onto the world. He offers his own belief that it is “a metaphor in the way we understand our relationship with the world and with each other.”
I personally really enjoyed reading Barrett’s writing on time and motion. One of the most interesting concepts was that of duration vs. time. He explains that time is a continuom of experience in which events apparently or actually take place, whereas duration is subjective, as one hour can feel like an eternity and one eternity can feel like an hour. "Duration flies when you’re having fun”. An important insight Barrett pointed out was that aranging things in different sequences, carries different connotations, even if the underlying data is the same.
I found the “motion and time” techniques depicted in the writing to be useful for my own art. As the practice of capturing things from other angles or even capturing blurred photos can add to the percieved effect of time and motion in a piece of art. I will definitely pay more attention to movement in art, and will hopefully incorperate the meathods learned in this reading in my art, and conciously try to create a sense of movement and time for the audience.
