A PROPOSAL TO EXAMINE

ABSTRACTION
SEPARATION
AND SORROW
BY BARRIE JAMES SUTCLIFFE
2010

Summary

The concept of research within the arts is not appropriately considered.

The structures, goals, and forms of this research are far removed from the
rigor of the natural sciences. Calling both practices by the same name
implies each process stems from similar desires for inquiry. The arts often
leave this intention vague.

A discussion of the rationale and content of textual style is presented,

followed by questions addressing research. I am concerned with the artistic
method and reasons why such inquiry be called “research.” The nature
of insight is discussed in relation to the artist’s life, emphasizing the
wholeness of artistic practice.

A notion of wholeness and the nature of thought, inspired by physicist

David Bohm, is discussed in relation to the perception of time. I aim to
further some of these ideas by relating them to examples in the biological
sciences. I aim to develop the concepts through artworks, technically and
practically, by demonstrating them in activity rather than text.

A gestalt for the artworks based on digital degeneration is proposed, with

six projects covering installation, performance, text, and philosophy in
support of it. The project is interdisciplinary and requires a broad-minded
institution.

Finally, I level critique towards the way such projects be proposed given
the limitations of thought.

“Thus, the uniqueness of each thing at each instant of time is reflected

in our abstract concepts by the limitless richness and complexity of
the concepts that one needs to obtain a better and better abstract
representation of matter in the process of becoming, or, in other words,
by the inexhaustibility of the qualities that are to be found in nature.”
(Bohm, Causality, 108)
1
Method of drawing lines:
Through drawing lines we create a creative
perception of a new order of necessity (Bohm,
Thought, 220), necessity being something that
cannot be otherwise; truth or meaning or insight
into the correct or a more correct idea of the
functioning of something.
That creative act is coming from an insight
which I liken to a movement through the system
of thought, as with active information or chan-
nel selection (Sutcliffe, 10, 16). The creative act
comes from an insight into the unknown—a real-
ization of how things or processes are ordered.
A creative perception then is then the search for
the necessary elements within a field of contin-
gency—those elements necessary to communicate
some kind of insight. Contingencies are ways in
which something can be, necessities are ways
that must be (Bohm, 218). One can find different
chains of necessities making different meanings
within a field of contingencies.
Hence, a weird piece of music, such as my music
making, is built as a system I find very necessary
and meaningful (see part four of my thesis, start-
ing on p. 77), but to others it could be seen as
chaotic and insane.
This process of drawing lines, in the end, can be
applied to the entire system of knowledge and
structure of society. In my work I am using the
text as you see here to demonstrate this, as well
as the creation of systems which are expressive
artworks. Further research will determine just
what other kinds of systems are possible to dem-
onstrate such an analogy.

Some comments about separation in text:

If I throw pieces of text on a page, but don't really tie

them together into one big set of paragraphs, they are
still part of the same cloud of content that I can call
"my book," "my essay," or whatever. The separation in
Artwork addresses space between these pieces of text is an illusion—they
are about the same thing, and for me and my work it
questions with is more efficient to communicate it in this way, as quick
connections can be drawn between small items of text
that sit visually on a page rather than a big block of
responses not academic text which must be parsed from start to finish.

reducible to text. Basically the text "pieces" are not separate. Their
fragment nature is the content, and that content is the
whole. We can imagine the fragments as atoms that,
from a distance, form a solid object, but upon using
Text will be unable concentrated measuring equipment appear to have a
great deal of space between them. And with even stronger
to reify itself into measurement still we will find that there is great space
in between the letters forming words.
details. The division between these items of text is important
in that they have different forms or are about different
subjects, but they are all the content of my book, and
therefore they have an internal relation or participation
that does not necessarily need to be described—their
being together is the only reason necessary that they
are coherent, the meaning of each piece and their
juxtaposition being central to the overall subject of the
book.
2
 What can research become?
Thoughts on method and artistic practice

One first looks outside to at be able to see something happening within:

Before one only had vague notions of a problem, but no words. Then to be able to express
a) what is happening within and without in the world; to sense participation, to be able to
form words from that sensation. To re-establish a connection between the self and the
world, to repair the fault.

To force a creative act that “simultaneously alters some of the reflexes (of thought)
and also produces the expression, in words or some other means, which will enable
thought to take it up and move in a different way from there on” (Bohm, 150).

(b
But you of course can have a fantasy of an insight and take it as real. That’s very
easy to do. So the insight, artistic or otherwise, must be able to stand up reasonably
and logically: whether the insight makes sense and whether we can do it, etc. The
insight happens, I don’t make the insight happen but it arises from the system as if
it were active information (Sutcliffe, 10). You could have a reflexive imagination and
that thought would deceive you that you had an insight - i.e.: it comes from memory
and is a reflex (Bohm, 158). If we have the rigour of research we can try to prevent
this reflex from taking control.

Some of the things I express are basically noise, which to me sometimes equates to
the inability to talk or put anything into words.
In such a discussion with these modes of creativity, words are not the desired bearers
of dialogue.
c)
The point of research from such a position could be to explain the difficulty of the
position itself and the very inability to describe. Even if this difficulty cannot be
resolved, to discuss it as being part of the unity of my creative output is a fruitful
topic for further understanding of the process.

d) A part of it could be how artists expresses themselves. Some directly express their feelings.
Others, for example myself, need to look at other sources to find a language to get to a point
where they can communicate some kind of creative message by combining these sources into
a coherent whole.

So artistic research could then be focusing on the process of gathering and using various
sources by a person who needs to reach a point of self-expression.

This is beyond finding inspiration, it is finding structures within which one can filter their
expression, to find insights in how to express and what to express by looking at many
different sources. This latter especially if someone feels an urge to express but doesn’t really
know what to do—the actual research is part of the expression, as the results of it shape
the entire form of the creative insight. The insight is in drawing many connections between
disparate things. It is an expression of the desire to have insight. Research can be a way to
satisfy the urgency behind desire.

3
 e) Part of the idea of artistic research is to explore further how art-making is
currently spreading even further into other fields, such as philosophy, design,
architecture, and any number of studies that previously were not part of what
had constituted as the "art object" or the "art practice." The approach is
heavily interdisciplinary, with any emphasis given to any particular discipline
entirely up to the individual artist As an artist I must seriously consider my
role between disciplines and my relation to them. In relation to using science
as influence, I must be skeptical of my own output as while I am drawing on
evidence-based work, the artwork itself is not evidence based.
A great deal of my text-based work would be to describe artistic influences and
scientific ideas in as basic a way as possible.

f) Everything is incredibly confusing all of the time.

One aspect of this research that might be unique is the scatterbrained way in
which it is performed and then left. This is reflected in the very appearance
of this proposal. I do not try to pretend my thoughts are ordered by ordering
them on paper. There are many different sources being used, and with many
connections between disparate sources, it becomes difficult to achieve linearity.
To maintain cognitive flexibility I see no other option than to avoid strict
linearity.

Being trained firstly in the visual arts, I can compare this practice to a bunch of
lines or colours on a piece of paper, each relating to each other, but sometimes
at great distance (I could also make a poetic analogy to quantum non-locality).
Cues such as visual overlap must be processed by the mind looking at the
image and making instant spatial association between the marks, rather than
by the procedural horizontal process of reading.

This is part of my method and how I think and observe, and to apply this
method to text—especially scholarly text—is productive and challenging.

It must be noted that the writing process will be ongoing simultaneously with
the creation of artworks. There must be no separation between the processes
as they are, like everything else, mutually informing (Sutcliffe, 17). To separate
them would introduce distortions and faults that would harm the overall
creative potential of the entire system I am trying to create.

Text has limitations and is unable to communicate insight. Insight comes in

a flash, and the words come later (Bohm, 149). Text can communicate an (g
idea about insight but it lacks the highly compressed nature of information
an artwork can have, be it an image, sculpture, or a performance. What I
want to research is how to make processes through the observation of which
inspires insight in the viewer. That is as lofty a goal as possible, but even
in the failure of such a goal we will be able to see how the processes are not
working correctly, which will also be of some use.

If we look at thought as being a real

material process (Sutcliffe, 78), then
we can create an analogous system
to try to work out the problems that
arise in our thoughts.
4
 Endlessness: revelation in process
For my installation The Small within the Great I created a system which I describe as producing
a sound of endless similarity and difference, a static yet dynamic drone (Sutcliffe, 61). I would
like to discuss this topic of what I call endlessness further, as this concept is central to the kind
of processes I wish to undertake with this proposal. This short discussion also contains some ideas
about where my research is taking me and where it will take me in the future.

An Anecdote.
I can tune the radio to a shortwave position and it will pick
up some kind of harmonic electrical interference that is like a
slow oscillating drone. There is no real content to this drone,
it is just some kind of noise on the dial. It is better than what
most musicians can come up with.

Moreover, it doesn’t end. It is there when I turn it on. I turn

it off, it’s back again the next day.

It’s just always there. It’s like a composition, we can call it a

composition. Or ready made art, in sound and object. Truly
endless music made by the entire system around us that we have
built: buildings, electrical grid, power lines, lights turned on,
radio transmissions crossing over, the structure of the device
itself, radio waves curving over the earth, clicks from lighting
and other atmospheric disturbances, airplanes, whatever. It
comes down to us implicated within this infinitely complex
system, turning on the radio and completing the circle of
this entire movement. The system becomes observable and
manifest and real, endless in scope and humbling. This is
what I want, this is all I want, this is all I have ever wanted,
to know that I am in this system, to sink into it, to dissolve
into it. To know that I am in some way already dissolved
into it is the most grounding and reassuring thing I can ever
experience.
Nothing in the system is ignored, I choose the channel and
I get what comes through the order, and what comes is
harmonious and good. I belong to it and am participating
with it, as is everyone else.

Time is a representation in thought. Bohm goes to some length to emphasize how thought participates
in perception (Bohm, 114), how that creates the world we see, and how we are unaware at most times
of how our thought is organizing our perceptions. He suggests a proprioception of thought (ibid,
122-123), a process where thought should be able to perceive its own movement, much like how the
body is immediately aware of a limbs’ position in space. Thus we could be aware of how thought
produces a result outside and inside of ourselves. Thought, through consciousness, generally takes its
representations to be what we actually see, rather than what thoughts are: abstractions which affect
what we see (ibid, 110).

Using the notion of endlessness reveals that time is also a representation - you can’t separate the
present from the past or future because the past doesn’t exist and the future doesn’t exist (ibid, 228).
A representation of anything has a domain where it is valid and many where it is not. The same goes
with how we perceive time as well as thought.
5
We have in our thought process assumed for so long that time is the essence of being (ibid, 228), and
this representation of time has affected our entire lives and how we go about things. If time is the
essence then time is the “being” of what we are. This is useful to keep track of succession (ibid, 229),
but not very useful for any kind of psychological purpose. The ordinary representation of time enters
into our perception, like all thought, and seems to be actual fact. Every thought following from that
then takes it as proof, and our entire view of the world is then built partly on that abstraction of
what time might be. Thus we take for granted the idea that everything exists in time (ibid, 231).

Time is easy to depict and count on in mechanical ways like a clock, but even in physics it is not
so obvious: since everything is changing at every moment, the possibility of keeping track of all of
it is actually impossible. Psychologically is also hard because you are thinking of many things at
once, some moments are longer than others, some are shorter, insights arrive in flashes that seem
to be instantaneous. We even have bodily sensations
that the future is forward and the past is backward in My interest in physics stems in part from
space (bodily sensations which can be toyed with - see my want to predict the future. I struggle
Eagleman). But there is really no past or present in the with my mind’s pervasive anxiety-ridden
mind, the experience does not actually make sense - the uncertainty that seemingly affects all
past and future are not there in space for you to move systems in my life, and my anxiety and
into. All we have is the present moment unfolding, the panic towards my feeling dissociated from
now. In your mind, there is nowhere for your plans to my own thoughts, body and others. This
physically go - it is entirely contingent up there (ibid, results in disturbance of consciousness
231-232). and the rupture of personal agency by
suggesting that the process of thought is
No succession is observable or provable in the mind. faulty. My work then comes from my need
Recently much work has been done by neurologists with to get some perspective to reorganize
magnetic resonance imaging studying intention and what the thought process so that wholeness
areas of the brain “light up” when it “fires,” but it’s with the world could be possible. It
still nascent research. Besides, when we are introspecting
our own intention, we cannot make such mechanical
measurements with brain scanners (Glannon, 325). We introspect things much more subjectively and
chaotically, with no sense of reference or succession to suggest any kind of “time.” Thought perceives
continuity from what it observes in the world by paying attention to similarities in action, motion,
and more. In psychology continuity exists in thought and is not coherent, as it is relying on memory.
(Bohm, 237). This is the same as not being able to see the individual film stills of a movie, or a slow
measuring device not being able to see the firing of an electron.

It’s not that this is a break between the physical and mental, it’s a break between what time is
actually referring to. Because it is a reference, an abstraction. It is not a fundamental essence.

Time is not the essence, now is the essence. It’s all we can hold on to, and it constantly slips into
the next now. In my own words I would say that we are constantly becoming, or that the present
moment becomes us. However, our current perception is that we only see the now as a flash in our
timeline, but if the rest of the timeline doesn’t actually exist, our thoughts about it are out of the
present moment and thus disjointed with reality.

I want to represent time in this way that suggests an ongoing present, or only the present moment, of
things unfolding, becoming, and revealing into the present moment. Not only is this about time but
it is about the self in time - Bohm talks of a self who is revealing (ibid, 167), an unknown self which
lacks the identity that thought forces onto it and is therefore free to change. Thus my pre-occupation
with wanting to “dissolve” into the present moment (Sutcliffe, 60) and my consistent emphasis that
this project be described as a process rather than a goal, as a continuous motion. In music, this
would be demonstrated by a continuous, non-sequenced, non-programmatic mode of performance.

6
Analogues and the expression of the aforementioned.

Physics are real processes, and my research into physics and specifically the work of the late David
Bohm has led me to develop certain analogues for real processes in my own life and attempts
to describe some of these processes to others. My master thesis was concentrated on researching
some specific aspects of Bohm’s ontological quantum information theory and developing artistic
expressions of it that could demonstrate this system to an audience.

As I continue to research these ideas, I am uncovering a more sophisticated approach to the process
of thought and how to depict such a thing using the arts. To put it another way, in my master’s work
I created systems within which to implicate myself and the audience to create an analogue for the
physicality of existence. I intend now to make systems about how we process information in thought
incorrectly, and how we might be able to describe the incorrect elements in a creative way.

I have been working with the concept of using

comes from a need to feel connected to the
analogues for these processes - non-symbolic physical
world, a therapy for longing. Desire is an
processes that are analogous to mental processes. I use
unconscious equivalent of longing, an urge
the word analogue because these mental processes are
for something the consciousness does not
also physical, materially based things, however much
choose to long - it is an instant chemical
more subtle and based upon processes we do not yet
process, you could say (Bohm, 148). I
understand.
want to examine this process, as well as a
process of conscious thought that could be
It must be noted that as the brain is not a machine by
as straight, determined, and as unbiased
any means, using machine—even computer—analogues
by representation as desire. Consequently,
only have a limited area of validity. There comes a point
I want to explore the emotion of relief:
where it must come to direct human interaction, which
the fulfilling of such desires, otherwise the
is where something like a performance is necessary.
continuation of movement (Sutcliffe, 60).
And the opposite, which is frustration.
By implicating the mind into a complex system to further
its complexity, the decisions influence the performance
in an unexplainable way. In this way I can make an analogy beyond simple mechanics to one of the
mental as being causally efficacious (Pylkkänen, 126). This latter is the essence of Bohm’s theory of
mind. In a way we can understand, quantum theory can help us find the existence and casual effect
of the mental in our universe.

To find more examples in psychiatry, neuroscience, and other biological

sciences I can use as subjective and skeptical illustrations for my physi-
cal and metaphysical ideas. My thesis contains some reference to stud-
ies, but I would like to find more and perhaps even engage with some
scientists to ask them about what they think and are doing. It is also
important to deal with studies that do not confirm my ideas.
As I stated in my thesis I am not interested in trying to prove these

The Future particular physical ideas exist in the mind, I merely want to, as I have
put it, draw lines and make intuitive analogy.
which does not exist: Another interest in this is to further emphasise our connection with
our surroundings, that our mental states are “embodied” and generated
by “the brain and its interaction with external and internal features
of our bodies” (Glannon, 321). I must emphasize my strong interest
in these areas of science as they satisfy some urge to “prove myself,”
even if I just want to draw lines. It does a world of good for myself and
those looking at the work to see that these ideas can be applied to all
sorts of areas of internal and external life—within body, culture, and
environment.
7
 Proposals.
Some current ideas for projects and why they are important.
The proposal itself is a piece of creative writing at the same
time as being a formal document, based upon insights. Some of
those insights are by others that I have researched. The proposal
proposes to propose those projects it describes; however the
proposal is static and therefore can only propose itself.
My subject is the wholeness of reality and life. Therefore, it
would be a breach of the subject and a loss of congruity if any
part of my project or life itself were not relating somehow to this
overall topic of wholeness. It would be logically inconsistent
for any part of the project or my life to not relate in some
way to itself. This presents a challenge to the traditional
dry academic study which attempts to distance itself from the
subject of study. In this case it is not possible, everything
must be connected. The projects are the artwork, but so would be
the dissertation, my daily life, and indeed this very proposal.
This is the context of what I am doing. The challenge is to
communicate it to others.

/Proposal details cut for Scribd

The Time Plan

The nature of time and the limitations of planning

It is not possible to predict the existence of creative processes that have not yet arisen. Likewise, it
is not possible to predict through backward causation insights I have had in the future which are
affecting those things I am doing in the present (such as writing this time plan). There is no way to
know on what kind of order of time insight works on, as its appearance is instant and does not seem
to constitute any kind of measurable factor.
Since this research project is based in the most part on the creative process, it is counter-productive
to attempt to predict what kind of insights may happen in the future. If I could make a time plan the
way I wanted, I would want to be able to know the pre-arrangements in the present that my future
insights have made to enable their formation. This is illogical, therefore the idea of a “time plan” for
the creative process is for the most part bereft of merit.
It could be said that whatever happens in the future that works is evidence that the content of
this proposal was due to very good practical knowledge on my part of having well organized initial
conditions. But owing to the complexity of process I have discussed, it is not likely.
However, I may make a very simple time plan outlining those activities I would like to perform, yet
owing to the statements above there is no guarantee of said activities taking place. I do not have
sufficient resources to predict what the end results will be and I respect exploration.

/Time plan details cut for Scribd

/End of Proposal

8
Works Cited

Alva Noto (Carsten Nicolai). Xerrox, Vol. 2. CD and LP.

Berlin: Raster-Noton, 2009.

Bohm, David. Thought as a System.

London: Routledge, 1994.

Bohm, David. Causality and Chance in Modern Physics. 1957.

London: Routledge, 1997.

Eagleman, David M. “Brain Time.” Edge: The Third Culture. 2009.

Edge Foundation, Inc. 24 July 2009.
<http://edge.org/3rd_culture/eagleman09/eagleman09_index.html>.

Glannon, Walter. “Our Brains are not Us.” Bioethics.

23.6 (2009): 321–329.

Pylkkänen, Paavo. Mind, Matter and Active Information: The Relevance of David Bohm’s
Interpretation of Quantum Theory to Cognitive Science. Diss. Univ. of Helsinki. 1992.
Helsinki: Notes from The Department of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, 1992:2.

Sharpe, Kevin J. David Bohm’s World: New Physics and New Religion.
Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 1993.

Sutcliffe, Barrie James. Collection and Dissolution: Wholeness, the Creative Process, and the
Limitations of Text. Thesis. Univ. of Gothenburg. 2009.
Gothenburg: The Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts,
University of Gothenburg, 2009.

9
Complete Documentation of all Artworks, Videos, Sound Pieces by me and additional
commentary can be found at my web page:

<http://www.inforeftech.com/> or <http://www.youaredissolved.com/>

Direct Links to Online Content:

The Small within the Great

Video of installation
http://www.vimeo.com/4084397
Photographs of installation
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barriesutcliffe/sets/72157615892719937/

You Are Dissolved

Videos of live performance
http://www.vimeo.com/5409101
http://www.vimeo.com/5421818
http://www.vimeo.com/5429014
http://www.vimeo.com/5472121
http://www.vimeo.com/5472293

http://www.vimeo.com/9852692 (improv duo)

Consciousness and the Implicate Order

Full set of images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barriesutcliffe/sets/72157616501945141/

Collection and Dissolution

Master thesis is attached, but can also be found online
http://www.scribd.com/doc/15856070/Collection-and-Dissolution-Wholeness-the-creative-process-
and-the-limitations-of-text

The Silence in Between

Video of sculpture
http://www.vimeo.com/1125035
Images of sculpture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barriesutcliffe/sets/72157607430354785/

Eight Beautiful Revelations

Full set of images
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barriesutcliffe/sets/72157616585189386/

10