about the concept

Preliminary sketch of the concept.
Not to scale.

My initial goals in designing this structure were to problematize new sight to the point that it became a difficult and confusing process for the observer. I chose a structure to encase the head not only because it could be totally immersive, but also because it helped show vision to be an intrusive, even claustrophobic thing. Too often those of us with normal sight think that we feel trapped when our eyes are closed, but most patients who gain their sight feel assaulted by lights and shapes everywhere. 

Even movement is something that must be learned - the fact that a shape or color is changing in front of one's eyes does not really convey that an object is changing position. This is one of the reasons for the turbine that stands between the viewer and the canvas: it not only breaks up vision, but when spinning it causes a motion that we do not immediately associate with an object. We try to look past the spinning blades at the world beyond, failing to understand that the blades are objects in and of themselves.

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