←

Jochem Hendricks: Eye Drawings

imageJochem Hendricks and the Eye-Tracker Thanks to VVORK, I came across this intriguing little project attempted by Jochem Hendricks that he calls simply Augenzeichnungen (Eye Drawings).

Eye-drawings, “Augenzeichnungen”, are drawings done directly with the eyes, without the slightest interference of the hands - the organ of perception being turned into the organ of expression.
imageHand: Left Eye / Right Eye, 1992-93 (from “Eye Drawings) © Jochem HendricksimageLight, 1992-93 (from "Eye Drawings) © Jochem Hendricks
By means of technical aids (infrared-, video-, and computer- techniques) human eye movements are traced and digitized during the visual process of looking at something, so as to be able to do an ink-jet print out of these movements eventually. The body of works called Eye-drawings not only investigates the process of looking at everyday objects in the form of photographs or real three dimensional items, but primarily circles around issues of research and the visualization of abstract motives and processes e.g., time, reading, writing, drawing, light, and afterimage, culminating in the denial of the gaze: nothingness - the invisible is made visible by means of a trace.
imageBill, 1992-93 (from "Eye Drawings) © Jochem HendricksimageDesk, 1992-93 (from "Eye Drawings) © Jochem Hendricks I’m most interested in what Hendricks has asked me to think about in response to how the eye moves when experiencing a two-dimensional plane. I’m reminded of something that Stephen Shore touched upon in his lecture back in April in Boston. In the case of his landscapes (though often times the image is rendered in complete sharpness) we, as viewers, have the illusion of the background falling out of focus as we examine the foreground or vise-versa. Ultimately, Shore was trying to explain how the experience of looking at an image is affected by the experience of vision. It’s true; the role that the eye plays in viewing images is, often times, as important to consider as the images themselves – especially in regard to contemporary photography. I’d love to see the eye-tracking technology applied to some well-known images, photographs that more or less hold one’s attention, surveying a number of viewers’ optical experiences of these photographs. And, of course, pairing the results. Someone, tell me it’s been done?