Exorcising Unhomely Street: Filmic Intuition and the Representation of Post-concussive Syndrome
(2017)
author(s): Susannah Gent
published in: Journal for Artistic Research
My interdisciplinary, practice-led research involves a diverse methodological approach, including experimental film production, continental philosophy, psychoanalysis, and neuroscience. In this exposition, I review the role of intuition in creative practice, and the influential factors when the work of art ‘happens’.
The short, experimental film Unhomely Street represents the experience of post-concussive syndrome through a surrealist narrative with historical accounts of atrocity and anti-capitalist polemics. Having employed a new approach to filmmaking — a spontaneous method in which artistic decisions are informed by emotional tone rather than narrative concerns — I reflect upon this creative play. I draw on the work of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, specifically his view that emotion underpins consciousness, Freud’s theory of the unconscious, and Irving Massey’s understanding of metaphor as the original, pre-linguistic language of thought.
Visualizing the Invisible: Artistic Explorations of the Electromagnetic Spectrum through Mixed Media
(last edited: 2025)
author(s): Babak Abdullayev
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
This artistic research explores the creative transformation of the electromagnetic spectrum into visual language, particularly gamma rays. Continuing the previous part of my research developed during my Master's thesis at RUFA, Rome, Italy (2023), the present-day work expands the focus from gamma radiation to a broader engagement with the electromagnetic spectrum. When I started working on these pieces, I did not want to limit the work to a purely scientific explanation of the phenomenon. That approach felt too limited for what I was trying to express. I used colors, rhythm, and space for form in each work. Gamma rays serve as a starting point for considering transformation and inner strength. Works such as "New gamma-ray burst with a white hole," "Visible," and "Mariotti" merge scientific ideas with symbolic narratives.
I have based this work on scientific sources and my experience. I also followed my intuition while examining the relationship between radiation physics and neuroaesthetics. Ultimately, this evolving work demonstrates how artwork can reframe scientific principles. It presents an aesthetic strategy for perceiving the imperceptible.
Aim
This artistic research explores how the full range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes both seen and invisible frequencies such as gamma rays, microwaves, and radio waves, can be translated into visual form through modern-day blended media practices. Rather than illustrating scientific concepts in a didactic manner, the project seeks to evoke electromagnetic energy's perceptual, emotional, and symbolic dimensions. The study aspires to provide a new creative framework for engaging with unseen forces that structure each herbal phenomenon and internal human state by integrating material experimentation, digital techniques, and theoretical insights from neuroaesthetics, physics, and human psychology.