Sascia Pellegrini

This research consists of first-hand experiments designed to call attention to, inspect and elaborate upon questions related to perception of various species of time (mechanical, integral, physical, psychological, cyclical), space (as a field of human perception), and the human body (as a sensuous temporal object). Using the body as a field of investigation, four experiments were designed to understand how the senses relate to time and its perception. Within the conceptual framework of an extended intermedia composition, each experiment focused on one specific sensory experience at a time (sight, hearing, touch, etc), and each created conditions and situations in which sensuous input could be enhanced and elongated (in time). 

The study began with William James’ specious present (the duration of time in which one's conscious perceptions are considered to be in the present). Related to this were other writings of James, Edmund Husserl, and Marcel Merleau-Ponty. Husserl’s observations on the characteristics of sense perception, and his distinction between the duration of perception and the perception of duration, suggested an opportunity to investigate these theoretical notions and their repercussions by experiment. Consideration of Merleau-Ponty’s retention and protention led to a question: if and how, by amplifying, expanding, and intensifying sensory response through specific experiments, might it be possible to scrutinise the states of consciousness that relate to perception of the present time? 

To evaluate artistic implications of the above philosophical theories of human temporality, the study examines work of the filmmakers Andrei Tarkovsky and Maya Deren, butō choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata, writers Jorge Luis Borges and Marcel Proust, and the composer Alvin Lucier. Their work can be seen as an artistic exposition of human perception, as an investigation into temporality, into the theory of the specious present and Husserlian observations on the modalities of perception and its duration. The fundamental phenomenological contribution of these artists is their focused scrutiny of the subjective, of the liminal space within. 

Phenomenological inquiry by definition aims to elucidate fleeting events and processes that flicker on the edges of perception. By using an experimental method, this research attempts to bypass the limits of linguistic tools traditionally employed and to bring the processing of sense-phenomena into more direct focus. 

These experiments in film, dance, literature, and music use feedback of my own body to explore the perceptual field: I consider this method of ‘sense amplification’ to be the main contribution which I make to research into the phenomenology of temporality. Experience in the course of this research suggests this methodology could be applied to a broad range of sensory input, and that, while the scope of this inspection is limited by practical concerns, many further applications can be employed in future.

Names of Supervisors: 

• Natasha Lushetich
• Dominic Smith