Polina Titarenko
Perception of Perception

The viewer sees an abstract shape in a metal frame. The object moves slowly, but does not follow a predetermined trajectory. It is controlled by the viewer’s attention: the system monitors the direction of the viewer’s gaze and reacts by changing the structure’s behaviour. Movement happens as a reaction to attention, but with a lag, with some resistance, sometimes unpredictably. Interaction requires effort: the fact of attention is transformed into an action with a visible result.

The exhibit explores the act of perception where observation is no longer neutral. The viewer affects the object and simultaneously becomes an object of analysis. Attention is captured, measured and used as a control signal. A dual state emerges of observing and being observed at the same time, blurring the line between object and subject.

The project places this experience within the context of the digital realm, where attention is a resource and an object of monitoring. Technologies that measure our eye movements also come to shape our way of seeing and describing reality. In this context, The Perception of Perception is not so much a metaphor, but a state where observation has become part of a feedback loop. Here, the world results from a dynamic interaction between the body, a machine and the environment.