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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

The Art of Memory - 6

Reading:
Ruiz. R. "The photographic unconcious"/ Poeticsof cinema (trans. Brian Holmes), Dis oir, 1995. pp57-66.

hmmmm, the main thing I get from this is the idea of archetypal components that suggest to us an archetypal concept.  In Ruiz's argument, the archetypal components; a square, Cathedral (though this should make it a city), old trees, benches and a few people equals 'PROVINCIAL SQUARE'.

Humans, assess situations quickly. It's a survival trait. We grab onto what we think are the focal 'threats' and react quickly to the situation. In our rapid assessment we may  'assume' the wrong idea, or miss other key factors because we haven't taken the time to fully apprehend the situation. Our ability to correctly or more successfully 'assess' comes with experience. Ruiz takes this human trait and explores how it comes into effect with photography and film.

It is interesting to see that though we usually have the time now to safely asses our environment we generally pay just as little attention to the non archetypal objects (unless our purpose is to observe). Does this trait reinforce and alter our memories of one similar moment to another..blending the similar archetypal components. Can we remember the differences of one provincial sqaure to another, once we have labelled both 'Provincial square'?

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