Black Boxes and God-Tricks: an Account of Using Medical Imaging Systems to Photograph Consciousness in the Context of a Digital Arts Practice

LEA Volume 18 Issue 3
Volume Editors: Lanfranco Aceti, Janis Jefferies, Irini Papadimitriou
Editors: Jonathan Munro and Özden Şahin

ISBN: 978-1-906897-18-5
ISSN: 1071-4391

Reference: Eleanor Dare, “Black Boxes and God-Tricks: an Account of Using Medical Imaging Systems to Photograph Consciousness in the Context of a Digital Arts Practice,” eds. Lanfranco Aceti, Janis Jefferies and Irini Papadimitriou, Leonardo Electronic Almanac (Touch and Go) 18, no. 3 (2012): 60-71.

Black Boxes and God-Tricks: an Account of Using Medical Imaging Systems to Photograph Consciousness in the Context of a Digital Arts Practice
by Eleanor Dare

Throughout the Spring and Summer of 2011 I attempted to photograph my own ‘consciousness.’ My reasons for engaging in this research stem from a long-term interest in the limits of representation, a research process that began with pragmatic attempts to represent my own missing memories. Using sensory technologies and software I developed for the purpose of streaming live EEG readings into digital images I extended my research to incorporate the imaging of consciousness. The imaging systems I have developed and their implications will be explored here.

Full article is available for download as a pdf here.

Vol 18 Issue 3 of Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) is published on line as a free PDF but will also be rolled out as Amazon Print on Demand and will be available on iTunes, iPad, Kindle and other e-publishing outlets.