Distributed Perceptions by Daniel Hill

It is apparent in the presence of the world’s famous cave paintings that as a species we have long found it necessary to communicate visually. For millennia, even as the acuity of spoken and written lexicon increased, this necessity to communicate the ineffable through a visual language has endured. Perhaps this is not surprising as potentially half of all neural tissue in the human brain is devoted directly or indirectly to the function of vision. This inherent visual propensity is reflected in the pivotal role of observation in our quest to understand the world around us. Both art and science share this common root of careful observation. We have extended and increased our observational capacity through use of physical tools such as telescopes and microscopes, as well as cognitive tools such as mathematics and even the system of inquiry that is science itself. These tools increase our overall capacity to understand and importantly, to provide unique perspectives. The physical capacity of the human brain has not changed in tens of thousands of years, but we have learned to employ modes of thought capable of revealing slightly more original viewpoints. Einstein famously visualized riding on a beam of light and dared change the then widely accepted metaphor of light being a wave, to that of light being a particle. This shift of perspective helped us understand light in a new and valuable way. Art and science also share this reliance on metaphor as a tool for understanding and communicating. This metaphoric vision allows the projection and interaction of the concrete and abstract, effectively rendering all of nature a potential metaphor of the human mind. If perspective offers opportunities for knowledge, then a metaphor imbued with multiple perspectives might be worthy of consideration. Such a symbol exists in the form of the ingenious octopus, which split from our evolutionary tree millions of years ago. The octopus has independently developed a unique form of intelligence and perception with a distributed brain allowing each tentacle to function independently. The octopus employs physical tools, has a remarkable eye that appears to perceive color in a completely novel fashion, and has pigment proteins normally found in the eye within its skin, allowing each tentacle to in essence, see. This distributed system is found in many species such as ants as well as humans. Humans have thrived in no small part because of our ability to share cognitive tasks in efficient social structures of cooperation. Art can serve as a touchstone for distributing thought and perceptual processes, linking minds through powerful metaphors that transcend the state of objecthood into that of being an integrative experience. Consequently, art can be considered a particular quality of experience that conveys tacit knowledge through our collective visual language. It also allows for simulations that embrace the totality of human experience and become a sustained mnemonic trigger for the foundational motivations of all human inquiry: that of thought, discovery, curiosity, speculation, intuition, and imagination. These paintings by Ed Kerns are thus a tool themselves; a visual model for a simulated intersubjective reality via metaphor; painting as vectors of inquiry; and a reconnaissance mission for the retrieval of unique data. In this way, his work becomes a biomimetic, heuristic system, going forth with science, and yet where science currently cannot fully venture. With someone of Kerns’ ability, it looks effortless; but a most complex algorithm is playing out in these paintings, one that can only be acquired through many decades of visual and intellectual exploration. In both art and science, the need for speculation and risk taking is essential in moving forward. And yet unbridled speculation is a waste of time. If art can be used as a tempered system of perception and if this subjective realm can be pioneered and communicated, a division once perceived as only black and white becomes graduated value differences. When the artist has undertaken a disciplined approach of thought, embodied in process, and the attitude of science informing decisions, we might begin to accept the notion of artist as data set. This data can then be processed and give rise to different qualities and types of knowledge. But the difference between data and knowledge; knowledge and intelligence; and intelligence and wisdom are relevant here, as Kerns’ visual inquiry possesses each. Whereas we cannot begin to imagine what it is actually like to have the subjective experience of an octopus, the very act of trying can help reveal a correspondence between the patterns that connect patterns. The distributed perceptions of the octopus echo our own innate tendency to connect our minds and move toward the greater collective goal of understanding. The nets of perception are cast; modalities of inquiry engaged; the processing is now at hand.