Perspective is the ultimate trickster, playing pranks on us at every turn. It can change with the slightest influence, whether it be an abstract matter like an opinion or a physical matter like observing a piece of artwork. So much of what exists in the world cannot be understood immediately; how often have your first impressions of something or someone been lacking or entirely wrong? We're told things like 'don't judge a book by its cover,' or 'there's often more than meets the eye,' and while we readily apply these lessons to interactions with other people, they are also highly applicable to the way we interpret the world around us. Just because we think we're getting all the information we need to understand something doesn't necessarily mean that there isn't something hiding outside of our immediate realm of perception.
Colorblindness tests are the perfect example of just how much perception can vary from person to person when observing the same thing. People who are colorblind would look at this test and merely see six circles comprised of little dots. To people with a normal range of color vision, there is a number inside each circle formed by different colored dots. The fact that the same thing can be seen so differently by two different people is exactly what has fascinated and inspired artists Jeff Lieberman and Bill Washburn.
In their installation piece titled 'Breaking Wave,' Lieberman and Washburn explore the phenomena of perceptual experience through a kinetic sculpture. They were commissioned to design a piece for a Cambridge, MA biotechnology company called Biogen. While discussion of perceptual experience may sound highly philosophical, it also has a firm place in scientific research. As Lieberman and Washburn explain in the video's description: "Scientists search through billions of experimental data points in order to find patterns to develop new drugs, to treat Multiple Sclerosis, Cancer, and other diseases. Without a particular framework or perspective, these are just 0’s and 1’s, with no form or information. But with the perspective of an understanding of molecular dynamics, these data points create a clear picture about the hidden dynamics within the body, and allow scientists to craft drugs to successfully treat these diseases." Breaking Wave pays homage to the scientific process, and it does so beautifully. There are only two locations around the sculpture, one in the lobby of the building and one from the sidewalk outside, from which the patterns can be recognized. From all other perspectives, the movement of the orbs looks like chaos. Searching for these two patterns within the sculpture is the perfect representation of the scientific search for patterns in chaotic data. Lieberman and Washburn spent seven months designing Breaking Wave, working solely on paper and in software. They were unsure of whether it would work correctly when they installed it. They spent five days assembling the 1,000 moving parts and 804 orbs, and their vision came to life wonderfully. An in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the making of Breaking Wave provides an interesting look at this process, but make sure to catch the magic of the completed installation in the video below.
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