Inspired by a slide Jonathan (course leader) shared in a recent lecture, I wanted to put my own plan together for the next few weeks practise.
I’m yet to establish my own medium so I think it makes sense for me to do a bit more research up front, and then to feel into the mechanisms/phenomena I want to explore further.
There are so many potential avenues to explore: Ganzfeld effects, peripersonal space manipulation, temporal distortion, sensory deprivation etc etc — and my approach to this follows.
The Core Process
- Research & investigate the scientific phenomena and identify which mechanisms I want to explore
- Seek out other artists, exhibitions and spaces doing this work
- Experience them firsthand
- Reflect deeply on what I felt and why
- Experiment with basic installations
- Test with real people
- Document their responses
- Iterate
The key principle: it doesn’t have to look good or be fancy. I’m not trying to make polished work yet. I’m trying to achieve the base goal — creating conditions where someone’s perceptual sense of boundaries dissolve, even if just for a moment.
8-Week Breakdown
Week 1-2: Deep Research
Investigate the scientific phenomena and identify which mechanisms I want to explore:
- Ganzfeld effect and perceptual deprivation
- Peripersonal space and body boundary dissolution
- Temporal perception alterations
- Cross-modal perception and synesthesia
Goal: Feel into which phenomena resonate most with my own experiences during meditation. Outline specific mechanisms that might trigger the sensory alterations I’m looking for.
Week 3-4: Experiential Research
Visit other artist exhibitions, installations, and experiential spaces:
- James Turrell works (any accessible Skyspaces or Ganzfelds)
- Olafur Eliasson installations
- Any light and space work I can access
- Flotation tanks or sensory deprivation experiences
- Sound baths or immersive audio installations
Goal: Experience these works firsthand. Journal immediately after each experience — what happened in my body? When did boundaries blur? What was the quality of attention? What techniques were used?
Week 5-6: Distillation & Design
Refine an approach for a simple, achievable experiment:
- What’s the minimal setup needed to create boundary dissolution?
- What can I do with limited space, budget, and materials?
- How do I prioritise the experience over aesthetics?
Goal: Design one concrete experiment. Could be as simple as: a dark room, a single light source with specific qualities, perhaps sound. Or: creating gradient lighting where transitions are imperceptible. Define success criteria based on subjective reports, not how it looks.
Week 7-8: Build & Test
Execute the experiment:
- Build the installation (even if it’s rough)
- Rent a room at CSM for a day
- Invite 5-10 people to experience it
- Give minimal instructions beforehand
- Spend 10-15 minutes with each person afterward—what did they experience? Where did they feel it in their body? Did time change? Did space feel different?
- Take detailed notes
Goal: Create a space where the experiencer’s senses are completely altered. Even if it only works for one person, that’s a success. Learn what worked, what didn’t, and why.
What Success Looks Like
By the end of the 8 weeks, I hope:
- I’ll have a solid understanding of the science behind perceptual alteration
- I’ll have first-hand experience of what works in existing installations
- I’ll have built and tested my first experiment
- I’ll have qualitative data from real people about what they experienced
- I’ll know what to iterate on next