The Kaleidoscope

Since deciding to look at altered perception within the theme of defamiliarization, I have narrowed this down by reflecting on other objects which alter our perception and have decided to focus on the object or a kaleidoscope due to the symbolical relevance it has as well as the significance of the object itself.

Kaleidoscope Perception

My aim is to reflect on the effects of defamiliarization which can be achieved through an altered perception. Instead of trying to alter the perception of the audience, I want to break the habit of only ‘recognizing’ something instead of truly ‘seeing’ it. I want to disrupt our perceptual habits and highlight the value in defamiliarization by using the metaphor of the kaleidoscope. We become habitual in our environment and by referring to the kaleidoscope; the arbitrary patterns and rotational symmetries will represent the reawakening of perception by disorganizing and recomposing what we see through a distorted sense of reality. It interrupts the natural function of the brain towards recognizing what the eyes see through the complex system of perception. By disrupting our perception through the images conveyed within the kaleidoscope and all that it conceptually stands for, our awareness towards experiencing the unfamiliar through the familiar could be achieved through the metaphorical connotations that the kaleidoscope suggests.

Kaleidoscope perception is relevant to defamiliarization as it gives us a distorted vision of reality and when we only recognise things instead of seeing, our sense of interpretation and perception becomes limited as we become habitual towards our surroundings. I want to look into the shapes and evolving nature of the kaleidoscope first and ways to create my own images and then experiment from 2D into 3D.