Image Machine

Author(s):  
Andreas Broeckmann

This chapter deals with the role that vision and images play in the conjunction of technics and aesthetics in the twentieth century. Based on an analysis of the fundamental technicity of human visual perception, it discusses the complicated notion of the “image” and that of the “medium” in art. The chapter begins with a detailed analysis of the concept of “operational images,” which pinpoints the tension between images that are produced to be seen by human eyes, and technical vision systems that are independent of human vision and human intervention. The author then presents artworks by artists including Nam June Paik, Steina Vasulka, and Julien Maire which articulate the complex aesthetics of visual media techniques. A discussion of early computer graphics artists like Vera Molnar, and more recent works by Antoine Schmitt, JODI, and others, exemplifies how issues like seriality, chance, and control have concerned visual artists working with different media supports ever since the 1920s. Finally, an analysis of works by David Rokeby, Wolfgang Staehle, and David Tomas serve to further outline the particular aesthetics of machine images and automated vision systems.

2018 ◽  
pp. 458-493
Author(s):  
Li-Minn Ang ◽  
Kah Phooi Seng ◽  
Christopher Wing Hong Ngau

Biological vision components like visual attention (VA) algorithms aim to mimic the mechanism of the human vision system. Often VA algorithms are complex and require high computational and memory requirements to be realized. In biologically-inspired vision and embedded systems, the computational capacity and memory resources are of a primary concern. This paper presents a discussion for implementing VA algorithms in embedded vision systems in a resource constrained environment. The authors survey various types of VA algorithms and identify potential techniques which can be implemented in embedded vision systems. Then, they propose a low complexity and low memory VA model based on a well-established mainstream VA model. The proposed model addresses critical factors in terms of algorithm complexity, memory requirements, computational speed, and salience prediction performance to ensure the reliability of the VA in a resource constrained environment. Finally a custom softcore microprocessor-based hardware implementation on a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used to verify the implementation feasibility of the presented model.


Perception ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jüri Allik ◽  
Marika Rauk ◽  
Aavo Luuk

To investigate the question of what happens with regard to position sense and control of the human eyes when the eyelids are closed, the contact-wire-free electromagnetic eye movement recording method was developed. It was shown that after the start of blinking or eyelid closure, the eyball moves up as the upper eyelids come down. Experimental data show human inability to maintain a given position of the eyes in the head under the closed eyelids. When the subject was asked to follow a simple geometrical path, a very weak metrical and topological correspondence between desired and actual paths occurred with closed eyes. It is proposed that the poor control of eye movements behind closed eyelids is due to the lack of available information about eye position in the head. The assumption was confirmed by providing artificial auditory feedback about eyeball position to the subject, which can be effectively used for gaze stabilization by the subject. It is suggested that visual information is the only useful basis for eye movement regulation under normal conditions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1784) ◽  
pp. 20140403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Charlton

Over 140 years ago Charles Darwin first argued that birdsong and human music, having no clear survival benefit, were obvious candidates for sexual selection. Whereas the first contention is now universally accepted, his theory that music is a product of sexual selection through mate choice has largely been neglected. Here, I provide the first, to my knowledge, empirical support for the sexual selection hypothesis of music evolution by showing that women have sexual preferences during peak conception times for men that are able to create more complex music. Two-alternative forced-choice experiments revealed that woman only preferred composers of more complex music as short-term sexual partners when conception risk was highest. No preferences were displayed when women chose which composer they would prefer as a long-term partner in a committed relationship, and control experiments failed to reveal an effect of conception risk on women's preferences for visual artists. These results suggest that women may acquire genetic benefits for offspring by selecting musicians able to create more complex music as sexual partners, and provide compelling support for Darwin's assertion ‘that musical notes and rhythm were first acquired by the male or female progenitors of mankind for the sake of charming the opposite sex’.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document