The core challenge here is exploring how I can translate abstract psychological and spiritual phenomena into a visual, spatial form. What does algorithmic intimacy look like? How can I embody concepts like fragmented attention or a longing for sacredness/meaning, in an abstract or surreal way? Some of the technical issues I need to address, beyond actually learning the software to a level I’m happy with, are surrounding developing a visual language that balances the digital and mystical aesthetics I’m drawing from, and finding a balance between psychological concept and aesthetic impact.
To be honest, I hesitate to be extremely literal and planned with the more creative side of this exploration, with the fear of losing some of the “magic” I feel when creating from the heart rather than being overly explicit about it all. Some of my main visual inspirations/precedents are the filmmakers David Lynch and Andrei Tarkovsky. What they have in common with each other and my own desires for my work are a commitment to dream logic over narrative logic, a focus on the environment as a spiritual or psychological mirror, and overall a deep investment into the time, atmosphere, and mood as core vehicles. Ultimately, their work feels mysterious, yet intimate. I think the reason I am even really interested in this concept of ‘spirituality,’ despite not growing up religious at all, is that it signifies the concept of the unseen, the mystery, and the unknown things that exist in between the lines for all of us, and the idea that this is something profoundly essential to being a human.
My ultimate goal would be figuring out how to create dreamlike spaces that mirror the inner psyche, utilizing elements of the mundane or the everyday and imbuing them with surrealism – visuals that feel a certain way, and allow viewers to project their own meaning onto them. This could look like many different things, and is definitely the most ambitious aspect of this all to me. Why 3D as the medium of choice? Honestly, I find the medium extremely beautiful and interesting when done right, and I just want to be able to create such work myself. But further than that, I think the medium allows the viewer to visualize what it actually feels like to live inside our digitally-mediated consciousness. Spatial cognition research says how our brains process memory and meaning spatially, we think in terms like “mental spaces”, “headspace”, “inner worlds”. 3D environments let you literally construct the spatial metaphors we use for consciousness.