Let's see ourselves in a different light
Dr..
Kamal Abdul Malik
January 27, 2023
These days, we are surrounded by screens.
Screens are everywhere, in phones and tablets, TV screens in cafes, and screens displaying the times of take-off and landing of planes in airports, but even before phones and tablets became our constant companions, projections and moving images captured our imagination.
What these images mean and how we see them are issues of interest to Dr.
Giuliana Bruno is Professor of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University.
In her new book, “Atmosphere of Projection and Its Representations in Environment and Art,” Dr.
Bruno explores the interrelationships between projection and the environment, and restores the concept of "projection" as a positive creative force.
Speaking to the Harvard Gazette, Dr.
Bruno «I was forced to think about projected images, because we are surrounded by them in contemporary art, as well as in life, so we have screens everywhere, in museums and in homes .. Going back to history, we have always been fascinated by the shadows that the light source casts on the surface of the wall, which belong to Cave paintings.. This projection, born in prehistoric times, links the history of mankind with the history of creativity.
Recently, however, the idea of "projection" has taken on negative connotations, to a large extent, because in psychoanalysis the term means removing one's feelings from oneself and projecting them onto another.
"It has come to mean that anything unpleasant or negative about ourselves can be projected onto someone else," she said.
The negative association also goes back to Plato, who makes the shadows of a cave deceptive.
Bruno stressed that "the prisoners in the cave saw pictures of people projected (i.e. projected) on the wall, and they thought that these shadows were of real people... Thus, the pictures are seen as reflecting illusions."
Since Plato's Cave became a metaphor for cinema, the spectator has become a person trapped in a space who passively looks at the phantom images projected onto the screen in front of him.
For Bruno, this reading misses the point: “Indeed, the term projection comes originally from alchemy.” In its original meaning in the 15th century, projection meant “to refer to transformation in alchemy,” emphasizing that transformation here is a form of creation.
“I work in aesthetics, and I have a philosophical mind, but I am also interested in history,” she said.
And when you delve into history for the origin of the word, you realize that this transformative aspect was there but it was distorted..” Then she pointed to the negative connotations of that phrase “instead of turning away, you can say that projection is a way to move forward – to move forward.” And she added, “Look I turn to history not only to see how this concept of projection has transformed over time, but how it can change our future.. I would like to change these concepts to re-establish the concept and aesthetics of interrelationships that can influence the way we live by emphasizing the possibility of change.
• Before phones and tablets became our constant companions, moving pictures captured our imaginations.
Visiting scholar at Harvard University
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