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Thesis Info
- LABS ID
- 00594
- Thesis Title
- Seeing Beyond the Senses - Microcinematography as Artistic Practice
- Author
- Eric Parren
- E-mail
- info AT ericparren.net
- 2nd Author
- 3rd Author
- Degree
- MFA
- Year
- 2012
- Number of Pages
- 75
- University
- UCLA
- Thesis Supervisor
- Casey Reas
- Supervisor e-mail
- reas AT ucla.edu
- Other Supervisor(s)
- Victoria Vesna, Erkki Huhtamo, Joost Rekveld
- Language(s) of Thesis
- English
- Department / Discipline
- Media Arts
- Copyright Ownership
- Eric Parren
- Languages Familiar to Author
- English, Dutch, German, Spanish
- URL where full thesis can be found
- ericparren.net/downloads/EricParren_Thesis_SeeyingBeyongTheSenses.pdf
- Keywords
- microcinematography, synthetic biology, abstract film
- Abstract: 200-500 words
- Humans are born with a finite ability to sense the world around them. Our ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin all have a limited range of operation. To further our understanding of the universe, humankind has invented instruments to expand the sensory range. Starting with the telescope and the microscope in the 17th century, instruments have furthered our scientific insights and technological advancement. In that same century, the magic lantern pioneered an early form of mass entertainment and mass education, allowing for easier knowledge dispersion. With the invention of the proto-cinematographic instruments in the late 19th century, time could be stopped or sped up at will, giving us insight into the nature of motion. Throughout, artists have been involved with the invention, use, and popularization of these instruments and the knowledge they provided access to. Nowadays, the combination of the microscope and the moving image, microcinematography, is widely used for scientific research and artists are also getting involved. With my project RFP.GFP.CFP I am trying to push these developments in a new direction by exploring the possibilities of an advanced optical microscope, a confocal microscope, and by employing building blocks of the promising field of synthetic biology as the content of an abstract audiovisual film.