This site is a repository of the research, reflections, and documentation I've contributed towards creating my thesis this year.

Concept

My thesis project is intended to be a short film made with 3D software, symbolically representing themes I have been researching over the past year — disenchantment, romanticism, dreams, interiority, beauty, meaning, emotion. A lot of my research has been very academic and theoretical, but I want my project itself to be extremely abstract and symbolic. I want it to be experienced rather than analyzed, without ideologies directly attached to the experience; I am inspired by artists throughout history who created beautiful scenes that we are only now, in hindsight, able to analyze thematic elements in. The art I am most drawn to is often emotionally resonant through means of atmosphere and aesthetic intrigue. I am interested in trying to create this myself, and a significant aspect of my thesis work is in attempting to build the technical expertise to do this.

Impetus

Although I've always felt idealistic by nature, I found myself becoming disillusioned as I grew older and the world began feeling more less dreamlike and connected. The current era really reminds me of the 19th century, where people were searching for meaning and connection in a world that felt increasingly mechanistic, isolated, and 'disenchanted'. Just as the Romantics rebelled against the disconnectedness of their world, I too have felt a strong desire to create something that is beautiful, emotional, and meaningful in response to the disenchantment of our modern world. Romanticism was a reaction against the industrial revolution’s cold logic. What does the reaction to our current AI/data-driven world look like? Can a computer-generated image actually evoke Romantic awe and the sublime, or will it always be in the realm of the uncanny valley?