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My work constitutes an exploration of archetypal symbols and their
psychological and spiritual meanings. It draws upon a wide range
of imagery, from many disparate cultures, as well as directly from
my own psyche. In showing my art to audiences, I hope to provide a
unified aesthetic experience wherein the viewer is encouraged to
project contents of the collective unconscious. In this manner,
the process of individuation is catalyzed and augmented.
To accomplish the goal of audience consciousness alteration,
specific formal devices known to produce neurological
"crosstalk" are employed. Sensory saturation,
under ideal conditions, can result in psychological paradigm shift.
This technique has been utilized for countless centuries in a
religious context. As an artist, I use these methods to
communicate numinous psychic contents -- not in any metaphysical
sense, but in a purely metaphorical one.
Among the specific methods I employ is the 20th-century discovery
of stroboscopic flicker. Physiologists have proven that this
technique effects all areas of the brain, as the overload of
stimulus causes information to "spill over" from the visual
cortex to alter the function of the entire central nervous system.
Among the results are synaesthetic artifacts and perceptual
anomalies, including hypnagogic visual hallucinations. Flicker,
combined with archetypal symbolic imagery, is a powerful catalyst
for TRANCE FORMATION.
The philosophy to which I subscribe is that of Carl Jung, so it
should come as no surprise that my work is modeled on the art of
alchemy. Its primary function is a purely personal one: the
dialogue between the artist and his or her unconscious self. As
in alchemy, the "magician" or "philosopher"
externalizes the contents of the collective unconscious via
interaction with a material medium. Traditionally, this has been
chemistry, seen through the filter of mysticism. While this medium
is no longer applicable, the method itself is still valid in these
times of runaway technology. So, I find myself manipulating images and
sounds through electronic means, and interpreting the results
in psychological terms.
Another layer is added to this discourse when the work is presented
to others as an object in itself. An already complex interactive
system is even further enhanced by the process of creativity which
each individual brings to the experience. In a sense, the artwork
becomes a screen upon which the viewer projects the contents of
the collective unconscious. My task is to activate pre-existing,
universal feeling-complexes by providing sounds and visions which
resonate with them. From that point, the internal transformation is
regulated by the unconscious itself.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Return to Manifestos by Aaron Ross.
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