[syndicate] the optical

[Alan Sondheim]

the optical

the optical asserts itself as punctum-turned-filter, the return of the an-
alogic within the digital. punctum {1} expands into the optical continuum
through a field transformation {x1,y1} > {x2,y2}. adjacent elements may
remain adjacent but any geometrical transformation more or less assures
that there are at least some elements that will no longer remain so. the
optical tends towards the puzzle; the punctum is those elements remaining
constant in the transformation of vector elements on the surface of a
sphere. every distortion is an artistic transform; some appear more artis-
tic than other. how much chaos does an image tolerate - transforms into
how much chaos delights the perceiver / to what extent is the original
image phenomenologically identifiable? but there are times when true joy
emerges, when the apparent real apparently shudders - when the viewer
shudders - as the real re/presents itself, and the punctum dissolves. for
the imaginary of the punctum is still the origin, and we rid ourselves of
that. http://www.asondheim.org/trawl.mov the trawl scrapes earth or sky,
taking everything along with it, irrupting surfaces, constructing an un-
recognizable real. the trawl transforms the planet, what is visible every-
where, the world turned upside-down, inside-out, reconstituted and mirror-
ed. beauty is the return of the symmetricized gift of the real.