The 10th dimension.

So, we’ve come to the end with Kress and Van Leewen with an interesting discussion of the third dimension and sculpture.

In thier closing postscript, they admit to the shortcomings of writing a book on semiotics that cannot cover every aspect of signmaking that our culture is making.  One of these dark areas in their research is the movement past the third dimension…

The first dimension is a point in space.

The second dimension makes a line, a two dimensional drawing.

The third dimension adds depth into physical space as we experience it.

The fourth dimension is time.

In physics, the fifth dimension represents an alternate times, and alternate realities (here is where fictions and narratives come into play for my thinking).

…it keeps going as you can see here…

In any case, in narrative, the first person is from the perspective of one person.

“It is the angle used in contemporary computers war games, to make players identify with the ‘special-ops’ soldier characters they play” (KvL 261).

Second person means “you.”

Third person becomes omniscient.

Games have this all wrong, actually…

In any case, I’m interested in sculpture when it is physically immersive and games when they break into physical space as well.  I’m interested in narratives moving into physical space at the same time.  These three interests, for me, converge in these games that govern the space of other kinds of realities. 

So when books or games limit play by only being usable instead of being platforms for experimentation, I find myself, like the children Barthes discusses, frustrated with limiting forms of play. 

Barthes writes, “the child can only identify himself as owner, as user, never as creator; he does not invent the world, he uses it: there are, prepared for him, action without adventure, withou wonder, without joy” (qtd in KvL 254).

But I am interested in immersion, in alternate realities created in physical spaces.

Physical space becomes much more interesting for me concerning signmaking because of its connection to realities, and alterate realities.  Yet, virtual realities encompass an oscillation with reality as well, as we were discussing with Facebook in Christina’s class.

This all brings me down to my favorite sculptor, who I mentioned before: James Turrell. 

Catso, Red (1967)

 

…or kanata by Yumi Kori.

These immersive works present a strange alternate reality, a fiction, but in real space.  This is where things get really interesting for me.  This is the stuff that gets my mind racing, and racing , and racing…

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