Fletcher and I ("I Think I Know What You Want To Say", work-in-progress)

Some of the hundreds of photos for upcoming exhibition (here, in conversation with Fletcher DuBois; photographer packwerk-photos.de)...

Greedy Mind Readers and Embodied Transparency (inspiration, process)

On my reading list: Getting Inside Your Head: What Cognitive Science Can Tell Us About Popular Culture by Lisa Zunshine



Discovered this book via this intelligent review by Michael Bérubé in American Science (A Theory of Theory of Mind):

"Lisa Zunshine has a theory—a theory about theory of mind. It goes something like this (and in order to paraphrase it, I have to exemplify it, by getting inside her head as best I can): Our brains evolved in such a way as to render us all eager but flawed mind readers. Whenever we see each other, we try to figure out what other people are thinking; it is a necessary skill in a deeply social species—or, rather, we are a deeply social species precisely because we have this skill. We try to read each other by look, posture, expression, gesture. And, to make things more complicated (and/or fun), we know this about each other, so we also try deliberately to produce certain readings in others by feigning certain looks, postures, expressions and gestures. All the world’s a stage—and the world we have created includes millions of actual stages, where actors embody the principle that all the world’s a (self-reflexive) stage.
[...]
Our culture, Zunshine writes, is “a culture of greedy mind readers” that relentlessly invents scenes of what she terms “embodied transparency,” in which characters are briefly readable to each other and/or to us, often at times when they intend not to be. In such scenes, we become able—or we are led to think we are able—to translate body language into a statement of intent: “That body, by virtue of being the object of our theory of mind’s obsessive attention, is a tremendously valuable and, as such, potentially misleading source of information about the person’s mental state.” It is potentially misleading because we can always feign a look, a posture, an expression or a gesture: “We end up performing our bodies (to adapt a term from cultural studies) to shape other people’s perceptions of our mental states.” Scenes of embodied transparency, then, delight us because they fulfill the brain’s need to decode social signals..."

Music to work to today (inspiration, process)

Today it's Kate Nash with "Mariella"


"She said:
No I'm never ever ever ever ever ever
Ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
Yeah I'm never ever ever ever ever ever
Ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
Yeah I'm never ever ever ever ever ever
Ever ever ever ever ever ever ever
Gonna unglue my lips from being together"

Having fun with Theory of Mind ("I Think I Know What You Want To Say", work-in-progress)

Gestures Dealing With Something You're Working On At The Moment ("I Think I Know What You Want To Say", work-in-progress)

Thank you, Fletcher and Packwerk, for the wonderful photo shoot this weekend!

---------------------------

* GESTURES YOU’VE ALWAYS BEEN INTRIGUED BY,
GESTEN, DIE DICH SCHON IMMER FASZINIERT HABEN,


* GESTURES YOU’VE BEEN HOPING TO SEE AGAIN FOR AGES,
GESTEN, DIE DU SCHON SEIT LANGEM WIEDERSEHEN WOLLTEST,


* GESTURES YOU’VE BEEN SEEKING FOR YEARS WITHOUT SUCCESS,
GESTEN, DIE DU SEIT JAHREN VERGEBLICH GESUCHT HAST,


* GESTURES YOU NEED TO GO WITH OTHER GESTURES YOU ALREADY HAVE,
GESTEN, DIE DU BRÄUCHTEST, UM SIE NEBEN ANDEREN GESTEN, DIE DU BEREITS HAST, ZU GEBRAUCHEN,


* GESTURES DEALING WITH SOMETHING YOU’RE WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT,
GESTEN, DIE ETWAS BEHANDELN, DAS DICH GERADE BESCHÄFTIGT,


* GESTURES YOU’D LIKE TO RECREATE AND MAKE YOUR OWN,
GESTEN, DIE DU NACHAHMEN MÖCHTEST, UM SIE DIR ZUEIGEN ZU MACHEN,


* GESTURES THAT FILL YOU WITH LONGING BECAUSE THEY DON’T BELONG TO YOU,
GESTEN, NACH DENEN DU DICH SEHNST, WEIL SIE DIR NICHT GEHÖREN,


* GESTURES THAT FILL YOU WITH A SUDDEN INEXPLICABLE CURIOSITY THAT IS NOT EASILY JUSTIFIED,
GESTEN, DIE EINE PLÖTZLICHE HEFTIGE UND NICHT GANZ ERKLÄRLICHE NEUGIER IN DIR WECKEN,


* GESTURES WHICH ALMOST EMBARRASS YOU, BUT DON’T,
GESTEN, DIE DICH BEINAH PEINLICH BERÜHREN, ABER NICHT WIRKLICH,


* GESTURES YOU’D LOVE TO IMITATE, BUT DON’T WANT ANYONE TO SEE YOU PRACTICING,
GESTEN, DIE DU GERN IMITIEREN WÜRDEST, OBWOHL DU NICHT MÖCHTEST, DASS DICH JEMAND DABEI BEOBACHTET,


* GESTURES THAT DEFY INTERPRETATION, THOUGH MANY HAVE TRIED,
GESTEN, DIE JEDER INTERPRETATION SPOTTEN, OBWOHL SICH VIELE DARAN VERSUCHT HABEN,


* GESTURES THAT SEEM TO BE REFERRING TO SOMETHING IMPORTANT, THOUGH PERHAPS THEY AREN’T,
GESTEN, DIE AUF ETWAS BEDEUTENDES HINZUWEISEN SCHEINEN, DIE ES ABER VIELLEICHT GAR NICHT WIRKLICH TUN,

* GESTURES THAT ARE HARD TO READ, BUT MESMERIZING JUST THE SAME.
GESTEN, DIE SCHWER ZU VERSTEHEN, DENNOCH HYPNOTISIEREND SIND.

Some people I'm lucky to be working with ("I Think I Know What You Want To Say", work-in-progress)

Corinna Clack (photo by Anja-Yorikke Heitkamp)


Fletcher DuBois (photo by Ralph Stephenson)

Antiquariat Stange in Heidelberg ("I Think I Know What You Want To Say", work-in-progress)

The lovely Antiquariat Stange in Heidelberg, scene of one of the next shootings for "I Think I Know What You Want To Say" (thank you, Ms. Stange!)