Depicting motion motionlessly

On the Move: Visualising Action at the Estorick Collection, London. 13th January – 18th April 2010.

17th January, The Sunday Independent, The Critics, Visual Art/Film by Charles Darwent.

“And other rooms bring Miller’s story up to date by focussing on the modern interest in depicting motion motionlessly, from Jonathan Shaw’s shot of a triple-jumper mid-jump to the sequentially flailing fists of Billy Whizz.

This is fascinating stuff, although more needs to be made of its central cognitive drama. As Miller points out, the perception psychologist, Sigmund Exner, found that the eye actually registers the gaps between frames in the apparently seamless story of, say, Steamboat Willie. It is the brain that fills in the narrative, preferring its stories complete. This knowledge raises all kinds of questions about how and what we see, but also about what art is and what it is for.”

Click here to read the full story on the Independent’s website.

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