User:Mirjam Dissel/Mirjam Dissel, In My Mind's Eye, 2012

In My Mind's Eye

UNDER CONSTRUCTION STILL

Description

In My Mind's Eye is a machine that allows the user to make associations that lie deep within them; these are personal for each user. The machine takes its mechanism from that of a slot machine, where the usual fruit images are replaced with scraped data. A script uses a simple English dictionary to scrape images from different sources, to establish a spectrum as broad as possible: this ensures free association.

Until the user is satisfied and a final set is created, he changes the images in a set by spinning the wheels (it is possible to hold and unhold one or more wheels). Then he names the set and prints out the cards; they now become part of a personalized game of quartet.

Both the mechanism of the slot machine and the quartet have exactly what is needed to force association: they have a strict taxonomy and allow people to create a narrative with images. By putting new images into this format, automatically the user sees them in a taxonomy, on the same level, and he starts to look for links between them. There is no need to force yourself to see a link, the game structure helps you do this automatically. Similarly to Freud's theory of free association, when the wheels are spinning, images pass and accumulate in the user's mind and get assessed in a second moment. This opens up the creative unconscious and allows for a more free and personal association. The result gives us a peek into their inner self, into their mind and brain. After printing (multiple) sets of images, on a table next to the machine, visitors can communicate the generated associations by playing the quartet (/go fish) game, possibly mix their decks and interpret each other's sets. I'm still considering the possibilities and the ways in which these moments can be recorded and what the possible uses are of that information.

I will capture the narratives in an encyclopaedia, inspired by The World Explained by Erick Beltràn, where each page reflects a personal association, composed of the images and title chosen, and possibly also what happens at the table. Each section of the encyclopaedia represents a day’s worth of data collected. The role of the encyclopaedia and how it will it be collated, displayed and distributed, is in a conceptual phase. It might turn out to be more significant to create an interactive database that functions as a visual dictionary where one can look up the different meanings given to the picture of a given item or word.

My aim for this project is therefore collecting different types of results, whether they will be based on personal experience, or something they associate through popular culture, current events, etc.

Media

Photos

"The World Explained". Example of an encyclopedia seen from a microhistoric perspective. With personal theories on distant subjects. By Erick Beltràn, Tropenmuseum 2012.

Mockup frontal view

Mockup top view

Sketch of cards.

Here the sort of inverted beach photo got me thinking of Australia, of people spending Christmas on the beach. I also had a picture of the moon and one of Amsterdam. It got me thinking of the book "De weduwnaar", the sequel to "Komt een vrouw bij de dokter" by the author Kluun. The protagonist lives in Amsterdam and travels to Australia with his young daughter, to visit the places his recently deceased wife visited when she was in her twenties. I just didn't know where the moon fit in. When I spun the wheel further and stumbled upon a mother and child on a shore, it all made sense: the young daughter's name is Luna. This information was in my head somewhere, I just did not actively access it. It's a sort of tip of the tongue phenomenon.

Video

Very rough snapshot of how the machine's current state, not yet with correct scraped data

Here is another example of how I retrieved information by 'letting things pass and accumulate to assess them in a second moment'. Here I am reminded of a friend who has his own record label. I remember the studio setup in the house he bought in Amsterdam. While contemplating what to choose for the final image, the combination of the landscapes and aircrafts passing, with the way the interior of the house was photographed, I remembered something: he always takes trips around the west and south coast of the USA, with boats and helicopters, while shooting beautiful film. What really makes this interesting is how this narrative comes together. As written above, I'm still working on how to let this escape the mind so to say: at the installation table during the exhibition or in other sorts of documentation.

Thesis

My thesis will contextualize my project in a way where I manoeuvre through a brief explanation of how memory is built and developed in the brain, to different psychoanalytic and philosophical ideas about the interpretation of the mind, taking the concept of (visual) association as a leitmotiv. In conclusion, an important concept that keeps coming back in my research and my projects, is the impossibility of automating the processes such as the one the user goes through while using the installation. A human mind is needed to make the meaningful connections between items. The important part is not the mere collection, but the mind of the collector and how the collected items can be represented.

Additional Information

Work Files

• image scraper
• image converter
• association machine
• send to inkscape file (quartet)
• print
• either send to inkscape file (encyclopedia page), or send images+title/imageNames+title to folder and then another script can send to inkscape (this way I also have the data of which images are used most) OR make python dict to store data.
• print? (but I can do this manually, or have a script make a pdf first) webpage?

non optional

• One page itemised budget estimate