The shifting forms and colours visible on the inside of our eyelids in a darkened room are produced by phosphenes — particles of light emitted from cells within the retina, which are detected by the optic nerve and imaged by the visual cortex. In this presentation, we briefly review how phosphenes have been the subject of contemporary artworks and are hypothesised to have inspired Palaeolithic cave art. We then introduce “Phosphene Expressionism”, one of the contemplative practices that make up The Playful Eye, an interactive experience designed for art museum visitors, which we have delivered in physical and virtual art museum spaces in the United States, Germany and Australia. Conference participants will be invited to experience the practice for themselves, preparing the ground for the final section, in which we discuss the implications of the phosphene phenomenon for understanding the ontology of the artwork; the roles of artist and art museum visitor; the relationship between interior and exterior space at the margins of the hallucinogenic; and the ways in which the phenomenon illuminates, metaphorically and literally, the supersaturated darkness of the contemporary image.

Dark Eden: The Sixth International Conference on Transdisciplinary Imaging at the Intersections between Art, Science and Culture.; Sydney; 2020-11-06 - 2020-11-08