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Alan
Bruton
Space
of the Psyche

This project
proceeds from the hypothesis that Dr. Rorschach's ink blots were meant
to be sectional representations of a continuous"space" of
the psyche. This theory developed while considering the timed sequential
presentation of the 10 standard inkblot test plates to the analysand
as if they comprised an extremely slow movie played frame by frame for
interpretation.

Each of
the nine abutting models in the series explores the space between two
of Rorschach's standard blots.

Making
up the "missing" space between the slowly played frames, sections
between the standard 10 blots were derived using video and digital morphing
tools. Then each frame of the resulting video was separated and generated
a significant topography of elements, after which these elements were
arranged in digital modelling space along a time line.

The surfaces
were stretched over the traced topographical elements and interlocked
the resulting shells.

The models
abut each other to form a continuous whole.

The models
form a "video played in space".
These and the following images are stills from an animated digital video
which explores the 9 models.

Since the
models are constructed of interlocking hollow shells, they have complex
internal cavities.

The models
are being prepared for manufacture using the process of stereolithography.
Space
of the Psyche Project
A TIME-BASED
INVESTIGATION INTO A POSSIBLE STRUCTURE OF THE PSYCHE
"The
dissecting of the brain interested me particularly, and I joined to
it all kinds of reflections about the localization and cutting up of
the Soul..."
Dr. Hermann Rorschach, 1918
The Space
of the Psyche
If presented with ten slices of a brain, knowing that each of them is
a sequential section of that brain, you can imagine how you might you
go about reconstructing the brain's entire form from these sections.
What, then, if you were presented with sectional representations of a
psyche, could you similarly construct a form for that psyche?
This is the question posed by architect Alan Moonan Bruton in his Space
of the Psyche project, inspired by research into the history and structure
of the Rorschach Ink Blot Psycho-Diagnostic Test Series.
The Space of the Psyche project proposes a structured formal template
for a psyche, associating it with the form of the brain. The operative
hypothesis in the project is that the 10 standard ink blots in Dr. Rorschach's
test series can be seen as sequential sectional representations of a psyche,
aconjecture inspired by Dr. Rorschach1s writings on his development of
the series.
The project develops a materialistic view of the psyche, taking it out
of the realm of the psychological and placing it within the realm of the
authored, perceptible, and affective artifacts of culture.
As the primary generative medium of the project is video, the project
can be seen as a "concrete video" played in space. Constructed
using digital topographic, modeling, image analysis, and film editing
tools, the Space of the Psyche Project consists of video, models, and
drawings describing a contiguous set of nine spatial modules. Each module
defines the space between two of the 10 blots, utilizing these blots literally
as construction documents.
The project's intention is the structuring of a space into which one could
project oneself to think reflectively about the interactions between self,
space, memory, and the mechanisms of perception and projection.
©1997-2002 Alan Moonan Bruton
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