Outside of My Body, Inside the Disco
A critique of Mind/Body Dualism in philosophy, this sculpture shows the ephemeral nature of our mind’s perception of our bodies. While our physical bodies change gradually, our minds can change in a moment. In this piece, the rigid frame of the acrylic body stays unchanging, while hand-drawn animations mimicking the shape of the body flicker across the displays. Our minds exist in an immaterial realm and our bodies are categorically physical, at least according to Rene Descartes. The animations show how the physical world manages to permeate the realm of the mind: We may see ourselves reflected in our breakfasts, in the media, in a glass of wine, the shape of an old fashioned camera. We cannot separate our minds from the stimulus that physically exists around us. The mind itself cannot be separated into discrete parts, but the same cannot be said for the body.