o

oft erl lno9e
THE JOURNALOF MEDIAARTSAND

REPORTS
Ar ri.,rOrgani.at ions
International Conlercnce
AndreaLiu
2

26 Adam \{ag1ar:Koltinuum
R.(h€lSon€rst€in
28 Depth ol Pcrccption
Mi(haelDiniiio
Brian \\cil, 1979 95: Beingin the \lorld
JodyZellen

l0

Prospect.3New Orleans ll
KathrynKramer
3

Burn n'ith Dtsirc: Photographyand Glamour
Arti-Glamour: Por(raitsof \\iomclr
JillGlessing
I'itcr lbrgics: Lettersto Alar

)J

Society lor Photographic Education
Amon
Stephanic
National Conlercncc
KarenvanMeenen FILMREVIEW
o 14 .\r'rcsting I'otcr:

Rcsisting Police Violence in l'ortl?rnd, Oregon

RoseBond

FEATURES

BOOKREVIEWS
N{igratory Surlaces: An Informal
Economy
and
the
Repair
of
the
Visual
16 l.rrr a Lore o1-His I't-oplr: l he Phorographv ofHoracc I'oolaw
Colonial Archive
Alerander Briei Mair
A.
TimothyP, Cooper
Ncoliheral Brain
8 57 Iliopolitical Screens: Imagc, Pollcr, :rnd the
Jay Murphy

Equivalent Simulation:
A ConversationwithJohn Opera
David[aRocca
t6

EXHIBlTIONREVIEWS

39 Thc lracrory: Photography and thc \\'arhcil ConrmLrIrit,v
tl i l l l N ame: The S i htr,\gc; B l ack arrd \!hi l e P hotogmphs
from ,\ndr' \\'arhol's F:rctorl
GodfreLeung
4l

Urrclcrstanding a Photograph
\\irds Not Spcnt Todal l\rv Snrallcr Images Ttrmorrow: Ess:r1sorr tlre
Prcscnt and Futurc ol Pholography
Colin Edgington

Sarah anrl.Ioseph Bclknap
Janina(iezadlo

2)
r \u r a Sa tz: Elclid s L ca kin g l ,i ght
Almudena[s<obar Lripez

ETC.
4l

l l cdi a R cccncd

2l pontrotto

( lo m e a s \b u Ar c; Ar t ( ,1th e l 9!){h

TimM.ul
24

COVER
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v i e wo f i h e . y p . e s si s, d e sp ite
frcedan,hel,l.optiveby theqdrden(2012)by
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LuciaSommerSUBS(RIpIION
d PRoMOtlot{S Afte.imdse provides a fofum for the dis<ussion and analysis of PhotograPhY,
EDIToR
KarenvanMeenen
A550(IATE
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lNTtRt{SChesea B!lkowsk , Crysta K!1, Molly
MANIGIR
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FEATURE

Equivalent
Simulation:
A Conversation
w ith John Opera

and most recollnizablc ol all photo proccsscs,in part owinq to its
signature Prussian blue color. \\rith this latcst work, howcvcl I'vc
managcd to modil_vthe steps of the process so the results are not
bluc pcr sc, but almost neutral. This shift in coloration is exciting
fur m,.ar lea.tl ]'c, ausc ir rrill allorr mc ro continuc cxpcrimcntine
with the p\sicality of the processbut not be boggcd dorvn by such
a limited, even clich€, color palette although I do lor,e the color
bluc. It's an incrcdibly simplc proccss as it only requiftrs $ater as a
dereloping agent. Some pieces are framed and some are not. Nonc
are behind glass.Some are in smzrlleditions $hile othen arc unique.
'['hcsc cyanotr,pcs sccm to cxist somewherc between painting and
photography. Thcir physical qualitics trade benveen those nvo
representational worlds or models. They fccl both indcxical and also
strangely lree of referentialiry

By DavidLaRocca
ohn Opera is an American photographer uho works at
the intersection of photographic materiality and lighc
dcri',cd abstraction. Since graduating from the School
of the Art Institutc ol Chicago (rvhcrc hc carned an
MFl\i, Opera has lived and r'r,orked in Chicago. His
work has bccn thc subjcct of recent solo exhibitions in Nen York
(2013),Los Angclcs (2014),and Miami (2014). lhe preoccupation
of his practice in the last ferv vears has centcrcd on thc rclationship
benveen the material origins of photographic processesand the uay
thosc proccsscscan be manipulated to express form, texture, and
tonc. [)rauins on thc most primitivc componcnts of imagemaking,
Opera has reclaimed processessuch as the anthotlpe and cyanot;pe
and applied them to the representation of abstractions as uell as
evcryday objccts. Flspcciallv in his rcccnt work, Opcra addresses
the peculiarity of organic, light-scnsitivc matcrials that give rise
to tu'o-dimensional tableaus. For this reason, many of his recent
picccs cvokc thc paramctcrs, conditions, and effectsof paintings. In
order to reflect on these laLestprqccts, cspcciallv in thc light of his
long history of rvork as a photographer, I discussedthc origius and
do'clopmcnt ol'Opcra's rvork rvith him during the rvinter of 2014,
via phone and email.
DAVID [ARO(CA: You're a photographerwho is known fo] working at
what mi8ht be <alledthe o.igins of imagenaking-that is, with lightsensitiveorgani(mqteriol,indecdwith the rnostelementalor rudimenlary
attributes of photographi( medio. What are you working on now?
J0HN ODERA:In an cxhibition held in Los Anseles in the lrll of
a
201,1,r I showed wall works that are cyanotypc-onlincn
proccss that I've been exploring since 201 l. During this period ol'
cxpcrimcntation and production, I've been continually drarvn to
artists rvhosc u,ork rcturns to photography's chcmical origins while
simultaneouslvquestioning tendenciesin art photography today that
deemphasizesurlace and materiality: I'm reminded hcre ol Barbara
Kastcn's cvanotypc and \hn Dykc brown photogenic paintings
from the mid-tolate 1970s (Ibr cxamplc, I.intitled71/13 from llJ"l1)
as uell as Liz Deschenes's siher-toned sculptural/pltotographic
works (Stereographs
#1 4 lrom 20113).Cy:rnotlpe is one of the oldest

DL: I can't help but see an apparentand appealing<oinciden(ebetween
th€ Slinds images(2014) and the kinds of photographscommonlymade
in a chemicaldarkroom without negotives-namely,(ontad prints. Do
you have a senseof the resonanceof this latest work with your earliest
images,madewhen you wele a teenagergrowingup in Buffalo,NewYork?
JO: I suppose there is a stylistic similarity betrveen how my photo
works look and horv photoerams look, and technically speaking, all
of the cvanotlpe prints are contact pnnts, mcanine the negative
required to make my images must be thc same dimcnsions as thc
Iinal lbrmat size. lf I want my 6nal image to be 3 by 4 feet, my
ncsativc must also be that size.Deschenes'swork mav be instructir,e
here, especially in horv she addrcsscsissucs of tonc and silhouette
as they are expressed in response to light lbr instancc, in her
cameralessphotograph ,lfoirl #25 l200g). [Ed. note: See .ffennagz
42, no. 5, for a ro iov of Dcschcncs'srcccnt cxhibition at the \\hlker
Art Center in Minneapolis.] Tauba Auerbach's rcccnt paintings
have given us an interesting uay of attending to thc imaging
cspccially tonal capacitics inherent in the topography of material
(see,lcr example, hcr mcsmcrizing I]nlilled llbldl seriestronl' 2012).
Of course, Kasten's photof{enic prints also rcprcscnt innoYations in
our thinking about the ftrld, and about tuo-dimensional depictions
of spatial forms; lor instancc, irr (ittitled 75/7 (1975). Horve',er. I
think what vou'rc rclirring to arc thc tlpcs of contact prints that
arc madc nithout a lens or optical projection. This is oliet thc lirst
cxcrcisc a beqinning studenl undertakes as a part of lcarrling how to
Davigatean analog black-and-rvhitc darkroom. lt's a demonstration
c'f phorr-'graphy
s [urrdam.rrta]natrrrc.
Of course, I also seepersonal continuib in thcse rcflcctions, sincc
you and I madc photoerams togcthcr in the basement darkroom
at City' Honors School in Bullilo, bcginning in 1989. Those years
that vve shot photographs as kids in llufl-alo wcrc abut learning
ho$. to apprchcnd the world through close obsenaticru. Back thcn,
photography was much morc, I supposeone could say,tactile (it rvas
also intensely odoriferousi thc smells of Dcktol, D-76, stop bath,
and fi< are the smells of my adolescence).And I supposc [\'e always
lleen intrigucd by thc material nature of the photograph image.
DL: lt's theering to reminis(e about the origins and (ontinuities of
your work (even about the smell of those darkroom chemicals-as 

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D L: Y our photographsaddressi ngthe somber,sol emn, but al so s umptuous
representati onsof i magi narypati cl es, and w orl ds postul atedb ut uns eenby
unai dQdobservati on-su(h as your seri esS oup (2001-02)-w ere fol l ow ed
by a seri esof w orks and proj ectsthat deal t di re(tl y w i th the repres entati on
of nature quo nature, as i t w ere, on the scal eof the human, a s beauti ful l y

arrermage 

FEATURE
iffustr.ted in the rnonograph MP5 Volune ll: (urtis Monn, hhn Opero'
Stocio Yeoponis(20091.
JO: My work leading up to thc .l1P? book was addressing issucs
ol nostalgia in nature photogmphy the "Kodak moment" fict
instancc, composing the world as a/1context and yct, at the same
time, as orl njf contcxt. Photographs byJan Dibbets provcd inspiring

DL:Since 2010 or so that transformation-whichbegan with youl
experiment5 in anthotyping-has found you moving fron the early
photo(hemi(alsof your youth to the large-format long-lens work of the
last de(ade,and onward into this nev spaceof organi( origins.
J0; Although I'm manipulating organic compounds (that are
then exposcd to light), all of my recent images arc made with a

and also orienting for me during this period, especially the way hc
used thc lraming of photographs arilllr the framc of the artwork; for
example, his Tolkbuk II (1998 99) comes to mind in relation to my
piece Windr.,u12O071.
Becauseof my attention to the frame-withinwas
implicidy
a lot of tcnsion-tlrrough-iuxtaposition
a-frame, there
pieces.
in this and other
I rvas lllly aware of the problematic nature ol what I was

digital SLR. I really believc that the creation of a work anticipates
what it will ask of the viewer, and this interaction has much more
to do with the naturc or with the act of looking than with any
technology used for thc rccording of an image.

trying to accomplish, or at least rer,isit, but I also lelt compcllcd
beyond all reason to pursue making thosc images for the MP3 book,
espccially after making Rotattnghe Disk 12005).It's almost as i{, after
encountering that iraturally emergent lorm in the world, I had
to build an entire context around it in order for it to make sense
as art. Of course, this was also in my DNA, so to speak. Those
early photographs of my father's inquiries into obscn'ation lrlot€,
observation (looking at thc way we look at things) started to secm
somehow knowing and haunting and necessary for understanding
somcthing about my own relationship to the world lirst my father's
world, then mine: ours. lt was also around this time that I startcd to
develop an intense homesickncss,somcthing I periodically struggle

DL: We are alternating here betrveenthe material cir(umstan(esthat
suround youl wolk (celluloid,chemicals,digital te(hnology,plant naiter,
et(.) andth€ matelialeffectsof those<reations-the artworksthemselves.
And you're sayingthat, at least in the last half-dozenor so yea6, it's the
act of looking at repr€sentationsthat oc(upiesyour att€ntion more than
the @nditions ol qualities of th€ representationitself?
J0: Absolutely. \{hat a photographic image contains or dcpicts
is starting to feel just as important as the fact that the image
exists in thc lirst place, or that a simulatcd representation is
allowed to be present outside of our closed bio-optical systcms.
A photographic image is a mcdiation that distances us liom
observed rcality and also somehow simultaneously points us
toward the possibility of another parallel reality. It's not that I'm

disinterestedin pure photographic space as we knou'it today
(c.g, as in an inkjet photograph)
and there is plenty of work
being made noll that does not cross over and share the concerns
but I also think that we are
of the humanfgure in your work alsooc<asionally of other media, such as painting
DL: Andthe rarepresence
contributesto that unease,tor instancein shob taken at ChestnutRidge seeing an increase in crossovcr work generally. There are a lot
Park, (himney Bluffs State Park (which feature your dadl, and Zoar of paintings that addressphotography and a lot of photographs
Valley,all in NewYork State, but p€rhapsnost emphatically,the subline that addrcsspainting. l'm caught up, then, in what seemsto be
and haunting Eorsboo (2007), where you are stranded-hypnotired? a biggeq broader qucstioning of media categoriesand perhaps
"categorization" as we know it, in art, anyway.
dreaming?delirious?drugged?-in a seaof ascendingboulders.
J0: Yes,all of those things. I like to think that whcn human liglres
DL: The work in your recent3howin Miami,as wasthe (a5. last yearin youl
appear in my work (it's not often that they do), that they arc therc
as a passive, discrete reminder that thc obseIwer is still present New York show-o priori (20151 at LonghouseProieds-tuns us bdck to

with to this day

in all of my work. 'lhey may be stand-ins for mysell, or part of
a general acknowledgcment of the existence of thc obscncr 'Ihe
human ligure in the pieces and projccts you mention had a very
destabilizing effect on the work itself, mainly becauseof scale.I was
trying to ndua?thc human to a point where its presence was barely
discernable and yet cssential the figure within a realm beyond
human scopc or control or comprehenston.
More importantly, scale, in general, has become increasingly
important to me in recent vcars as I've continued to considcr it with
rcspect to the viewer's interaction with the linished work. Whcn
possible, in pieces ftom recent years (as contrasted rvith the works
,voucite), I reproducc my subjects at actual size in order to set up a
certain kind of relationship with the viewer. Instead of thc carlier
instinct to adjust scalezaittiathe image (e.g, boulder-to-human), thc
more recent images are prcsented as l:1. For mc, this is another
valence of my thinking about "equivalent simulation," where the
vicwer is encountcring the world as it is in its proper scalc ol'
relation

18

and yet, obviously, in a thoroughly transformed rvay

afterimage

painting, or the provoction that photo8raphycan be(ome paintinS and still
know itself as photoEraphy.
JO: Facing a photograph, there is always an awareness of its lraming
or fragrnenting of perceivable reality basiczrlly that thcre is a
distinct context ,zhds or beyond its edgcs.Of course,the riener isn't
privileged ro what that is exactly, but it's a world we must presume is
there: I can't seearoundthc photograph, but I must bclicvc there is
a rcality past the periphery \\lth a painting, by conhast, thcrc isn't
necessarilythat safety net a wo d, a rcality holding the image in
place, squeezing it into the frame. A painting may or mav not have
anything direcdy to do with the world as we know it. It can be its own
distinct world or arrive in our minds and memories full of pcrsonal,
imposed distortion. \'Vhat I'm trying to do, again especiallyin current
work, is setup a scenariothat's half-rooted in the cxpcctationsof what
to
thc cxperience of r'icwing photographic space/rcality is supposed
leel likc, while simultzrneouslyreimagining a space/time oalrilz of the
frame that is frec of predictable or recognizablc associations.In this
respect,the works perhaps behave more like pairttinpp. 

DL: 5o it! notthe subied matter-the (ontent-that will be (aptivating
to yiewers, but something €lse. What then? The lmage or, as you've
beensaying,th! psy(hologicalorcognitiverelations that arise bettveen
the viewer and the work?
J0: For me, the work derives from an acknowledgment of the
possibility of transcendent reality or epiphantic vision even
religious vision. 'l'he notion of a transcendent reality is, of
course, a preoccupation that intimately links us with antiquity:
from Plato (/rddr) to Kant lnoumenal.So, in my small way, I'm
trying to explore through a practice of immanent, materialist
photography
how we can think about the ways a medium itself
give
can
rise to images, and, it would seem, also to thoughts.
How these qualities and eflects are being achieved, I think, has
to do with the manner in which these works come into being
Cyanotypes are made by baffiingly simple means- Why do lightsensitive compounds exist in nature? SirJohn Herschel posited
that by studying photosynthesis he could develop a chemical
formula for fixing a photographic image. He must have been a
big dreamer I like how animistic that method of inquiry is, in a
way. I want to believe that Herschel's scientific approach a kind
of hybrid of the physical and the intuitive
was a defensible
sort of thinking, as if we could proceed with the belief that
the universe is aware of how photography provides a way of
examining itself.
DL: Precisely. Instead of a photograph of naturc (say, rc<ls, waterfalls,
lichens-things you have photognphed in the past with a lens and flml, we
have nature guo nature (light adiv.ted o4ani< compounds!-as if nature
vtereimagingthe r{orld from its very own prcperties and physi(al strudures.
Hencethe aDpeil to odgins-as it matter its€tf has the capa<ityto represent
itself given thc dircding hand of an atist.
JO: I think nature ii imaging itself in that wala I can't stress enough
how much I think about this condition of the medium. I think about
some rccent painting in connection to this idea, such as that of Dan
Colen especially his Untitun (Birhh;t) (2007); and alsoJohn Knuth in
his Fb Paintmgs(2014). Knuth, for example, has created the conditions
in which nonhuman natura.l forces-in this case recendy hatched
flies are enlisted to apply paint on his behall The flies go about their
business,as it were. The patterns of paint "created" by the flies would
seem to be found, not made at least not intentionally so; the flies
are inadveftendy maling marks of their natural, instinctive pathways.
A parallel line of thought is partially what led me to the concept of
simulation. Not that people don't constantly frame the photographic
medium in terms of simulation (and simulacra), but I think about,
for instance, the fact that a pinhole optical projection can exist in
nature. Likewise, certain chemical compounds change when exposed

untitled(Moquoketo)(2009) by JohnOpera;courtesythe artist

more conventional approach to picture-making and took a hear,y
(hopefully not hea\,y-handed) turn toward the ontological. Jeff
Wall's short essay "Photography and Liquid Intelligence" (1989)
was a key inspiration. I've read this short text dozens of times, but for
some reason I still return to it again and again . . . like a meditation,
perhaps. Wall's essayhas been both a place to frnd thoughts on these
matters eloquently o.pressed and a provocation to my own further
experiments in a similar vein.
Dl: Can ve say, then, in a meaningful way, that your wolk vith
lnthotypes-and aspects of youl (urlent Dlojeds-blend the art of
painting and thc s(ieo(e of (hemistry?

to light. It scems to me there is something very important about fiIst
recognizing how curious these naturally occurring phenomena are
in their own right, on their o\!n terms, but also in relation to the
uncanny birth of photography or imaging more generally.

J0: Definitely. However,I really don't thinkof myprocess in terms
of whether it leans toward one disciplinary model or another,
toward science or toward art. At the end of the day I think I'm
trying to hang onto certain conditions and associations that
exist around deciphering photographic space for example, its
veracity, or the fantasy of its truth
and stretch the form beyond

Dk (an you pinpoint how or whentheseissues(ane to light for you?
J0: All of this attention to medium began when I started the
anthotlpes about five years ago. My work shifted away from a

what we commonly refer to as the photographic "document." I want
the viewer to recognize what is in my photos as belonging to the
world, but also to somehow be forced into a position outside of
those expectations, as in a dream or perhaps owing to a (mild)

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FEATURE
drug-induced hallucination. This includes setting up a scenario
Perhapswhat I'm really wondering about is not so much how
where the viewer's experiencecontinually reiaforces
thzt he or a photograph ri time or is abouttirrl'e,but how the representation
sheis looling at a representationthat sharesqualities with both is itself a kind of spaceor containerrfirtime. Sinceopticsconnect
photographsand paintings.
what wc secconccptuallyto thc act of sight-giving credcnccto
the expectation(or illusion) that when looking at a photograph
DL:Whator where,then,is the rolefol opti(s-ifany? Haveyouovercome we are looking at reality we're always trying to evaluatethe
the mechanical
attrlbutesof th€ camera.rd (hemlcalaspedsof fln to degreesof distortion in a representationwhile simultaneously
sonehovletun to the radi(.|o ginsof light sensitivityasanimatedby knowing that it's anchorcd to thereal.
natunl rnatelial3?
Doesthis move3hiftus(lo3erto the rarth, or adiyate
youspokeofcarliar?Forone'snind (ouldgotheother DL:Butthe qanotypesandanthotypes
don'tmakethis clain to the r€al,
thetnnlcendental
w.y-des(endto the depths-rndbe dl.vrn in by you.wolk! lelationto dght?Theil subjed5een5to be the intimate(oextension
of theil form
(leatures. and(ontent(wheretheirfolm i5 their(ontent).ln thesekindsof organic,
bioluminexence
andfiuoles(en(e,
espe(iallyamongde€p-sea
Soup<ouldbecitedaspartof this traiedory no?
light-sensitiv€
works,theleis no appealtoa l€plesentation
ofthe worldr
JO:The notion of origin is at the centerof my inquiries,I believe. reality,or the real.optics, ii wouldseem,havealwaystenpted us to
(evenif we'vecometo
Soapis surely anchored there as well. It has to do with time, of saythat we see5one t ring'in' the Dhotogr.ph
course. What is time and how did all of these things around admitthat the "thing" is tnnsformedbythe art of photognphy,
andthe
us (and in us, or as us) evolve and grow into such complexity, mediurnitselfl. But whenthe lansis takenaway,andthe filn is tak€n
traveling along some kind of continuum from conception to away,whatareweto sayis "in" theselatestworks?Hencemysuspicion
entropy? How many times has this "simulation" played out? (in a good sense)that your qanotypesand anthotypesand related
Computer programmersare known to invoke "simulation" when te(hniques
drawus ba(kto ourthinkingaboutpaintingandits modesot
Howdo€sthis registcrfol you?
discussingrepetition in a sequenceof code. Not necessarily repr€3entation.
thinking about a circular or cyclical form (such as Nietzsche's J0: Right. If you take away optics and film you're removing
eternal return of the same),I am neverthelessintdgued by the the expettations
associatedwith straight sight. What's left is the
possibility of materialsinteractingand creating somethingmore
continual z-Dresentationof nature to itself.
akin to the photographic concrete.If anything occurs that feels
"optical" or perspectival,it's merely an illusion (though, to be
rigoroushere,a// 2-D representationisjust that aswell).I suppose
Zl Anthotype(2O12)
by JohnOpera;courtesythe adist
that the anthotlpes and similar works fall into this trap a bit, as
all abstract compositionalspacewill, whether it's a product of
painting marks or photographic capture. What I still can't get
away from, though, is the idea of the lens image, and it doesn't
have to be lrorn a camera or even, physiologically,from a
human vantage point. Call these two modes the chem-optical
and the bio-optical. All photographic material has that double
statusembeddedin it. For me, that doublenessalwayslurks in the
photographic:
background,feeding how we experienceaa7l.hia.g
the haunting trace of our own chemical/biological/mechanical
interface with the world. So my hope is that these works, yes,
leave the literal idea of a photograph behind but still somehow
refusc to let go completelyof that kind of visuality.Have I just
inadvertentlyproposeda theory of allegory for theseworks and
my processin creatingthem?
DL:Yes,lthink so,andpartotyour.(@untwouldthenpromptusto dwell
on the ri(h analogies
anddisanalogies
that appearandrecede
asa resuh.
50, canwe saythat youl wo* turns ow intelestde(idedly.way from what
a photographdepirtsandtowardwhat it is-materially? Th€image,then,
is not an imageof something,but sonehowis, instead,strictly on iDage
of itselfl lf that'3the (as€,thenit's one-of-a-kind-an
original,alwaysa
negatiye-as-arlvork?
Andwithsu(hsingulaty (orlackof reproducibility),
it appeaEto fnd anotherwaytowardfu intimacywlthpalntinS.
JO: The materials(or materiality)have becomemore prominent
in my work over the past half-dozen yeals or so. For me, this
shift was about pushing against the program of prepackaged
20

afterimage 

l)hotoglal)hicmat.r-ialsand l)lnccsscsilbr cxamltc. thc scttings()rl
cligital canrcras llos'cr; portr':rit.nrounlain; sq)ia. lojr. cllronc.

ol timc and placc, bccorninq incrcasinglv dc-naturalizcd iirrost
pcoplc just call this "cligitizcd"lso rrv nro\'cmc t in the dircction
c1(.rthiLtare expor)cltiirlh distiur(ius us llonr lraditiolls associaled of elemental 'technologies"of nature birdshit, flies, folds, lightwith hand\r'(nk and lalxrr. s('I1:choscn"sellin$i. \\hich llrinq_sus scnsitive orqanic rnatter seenls at once reorienting aircl. in an
back to oriqin anclartist in tclline rvars.Laboritscll holds rvithin unscntimcnlal\!a\'! rcs(ora(ivc.l
in it thc possibilitr lbr':r mcditativc, nonlirt:ar lopoatqrhit spact:
rvc once callctl it "inrasiration." r\ lot ol'mv ideas come liom the DAVIDLARo(0, pHD,is VisitingS(holarin the Department
of Englishat
thoughl-spacethat cmcrgcs du ng morc mindlcss production
minc is nn irrt l)oln linnr davdrceorin{.
DL: What then shouldwe say is being representedin or by thes€ works?
light? The effects of light's behavior (and thus pattclns of otherwire
unse€nphysiol laws)? 0r natural laws more generally-in (hemistry and
physicsand biology?

(orn.ll Universityanda ledurerin the D€partment
of Philosophy
at SUNY
Cortfand.Hc ir the authot of Emetson'sEnglishTroitsdnd th€ Noturo, History
of Metoplror(20131and the editor of Tfie Philosophyof \4or Filns l2014l,
amongothervorks.
NoTES|.Not Hse Yet,LoudM erCa ery LosAnBees,Septem
berll Octobe,24,2014.2. Formore
nfomallon.rewwJohn0p{a (omandww DavidlaRo(a.org.

J0: lhc imagcs zrrcabout lbrccs. such as liglrt. Likerrisc.sr:nitll
viscosit\: thc matc al and thc chcmical, and cvcn rnolccular
intcractions crrmc inlo pla\t Sl;ll. uith all tlrcsc lans. all tltese
clcmorts ol nirtural o)dcr. thc imascd rcsult is a mall ol'something
bevondhunran comprchcnsi(nIt dot:sseemthat art is increasinglr'pluggine inlo (hc s?rmcli)l ( cs
that nrn :rnd conslitutcc!cr\ thing \r'c kIo\\' cspccialh,thc lluman
realrn lrrrcli(s sovernins belrniors. 'l he parad()x li)r artists.thcn.
is that our cognilive prncessesarc also grcalh shiliine t)$?ud lln'
virlual/thc simulatcd/thc schcmatic.\\i: rr'c, olvirg to acciclents

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