Roger Bays

Ai think therefore ai am is a digital work showing at Art N Science, Ōtautahi, New Zealand 20-25th Nov 2018.

Divining the divine is a sculptural work  showing at Immersion, group show, organised by First Thursdays.

Thursday 1st Dec 2016   17:30 - 21:00 

Dilama, 102 Buchan St, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Lineworks is a work on paper showing at Toi Te Karoro studio and Thinking of Place print exchange.

Fiksate Design and Gallery 115 New Brighton Mall, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Fri 4th Nov 2016 (opening)   17:30 - 20:00

Sat 5th Nov 2016   11:00 - 17:00

Sun 6th Nov 2016   11:00 - 16:00

The Dappled Grey is showing at the Science of Consciousness in Tucson, Arizona, USA from April 25 – April 30, 2016.

About the work

The Dappled Grey is a projected work that incorporates the Hermann grid illusion. It consists of eleven images that are sequentially projected for several seconds each. The sequence order is shuffled and looped giving millions of viewing permutations. The illusion generates flickering grey dots at the intersections of the horizontal and vertical white lines. The nature of the illusion invites the art viewer to contemplate where these dots reside . . . if they do not exist on the screen do they, instead, exist in the mind? This may lead the viewer, who is maybe familiar with indirect realism, to further reflect on where the image of the horse, white lines, background, screen, room, and gallery building is located. Is it not also in the mind,  alongside the flickering dots? This line of enquiry forces us to question the nature of  what we are looking at and also raises doubt as to where, ‘it,’ might be. If we are uncertain of  the exact location of the image we experience (maybe somewhere in the mind) are we  therefore uncertain of where the source (the artwork/external world) is located? Would we  not need to know the location of both to measure one from the other? Where is what you see right now? Do you know where your visual experience is? Do you know where the source is? The work also question whether images can exist outside conscious experience. When  nobody is looking do artworks simply disappear? Is a closed gallery devoid of art?

ABSTRACT

This artwork, 'The Dappled Grey,' utilises an illusion to explore the nature of looking. The experience of looking at the work creates artefacts in the conscious experience that, on close inspection, seem to have no presence or existence at the source (the work). This leads the art viewer to experience a discrepancy between what is consciously perceived and what is offered by reality, or thought to be offered. It is hoped that this challenges the art viewer to consider their own conscious experience and speculate about the nature of reality and what they might know about it, if anything. It is also hoped that art viewers may engage in dialogue about what is happening in the work, and share stories brought to mind by the conundrum that the illusion presents. This artwork is influenced by my sympathies with a new mysterianism perspective. I know a great deal about conscious experiences, I have them all the time. Yet, I know nothing about non-conscious reality, which, as far as I can tell, is inaccessible to me; even if I look at a neuron through a microscope, or the stars through a telescope I only ever witness conscious experiences, the actual reality beyond, if it exists at all, eludes me. This line of thinking offers the possibility that, 'the hard problem,' does not lie with consciousness, but with reality. In which case we may find ourselves with, the easy problem of consciousness and the hard problem of reality. To create the work I started with a standard optical illusion that is often used in talks about consciousness and worked with the idea of transposing the grid like effect onto a familiar object. Working with one of the requirements, a dark background, the idea of a black horse materialised. I began working with a found photograph and started to overlay a grid onto the horse. I then pushed the photograph into a silhouette. This enhanced the mechanics and robustness of the illusion and allowed me to further experiment with the parameters of the grid. To improve, 'the look,' of the grid I changed angles and positions of lines, and added colour. This presented the risk of the illusion collapsing. But I found that it was possible to deviate from the strict symmetrical nature of the standard grid and still maintain a robust illusion. I found that animating the image gave life to the work, and encouraged the art viewer's gaze to move through the scene, which further enhanced the illusion of flickering grey dots. The title, 'The Dappled Grey,' gives a nod to the gray matter of our brain and offers contradiction, the horse is black, yet the illusion offers elements of dapple grey. Historically, art has included illusion, the concepts behind this work invite the art viewer to go further and consider philosophical notions. The viewer is being nudged, for a short time at least, to become a philosopher.

Links to:

The Centre of Consciousness Studies Archive at The University of Arizona

The Dappled Grey — An illusion based artwork that questions the nature of looking

Art exhibitors —The Science of Consciousness 2016

Back projected image viewed from outside the caravan

The Semaphore augmented reality installation that was recently accepted into the Anthony Harper competition has won, 'The Press People's Choice Award.' The award is offered by The Press newspaper to the artist/s that receive the most votes from gallery viewers. Sixty six artists from around New Zealand competed in the competition.

Many thanks to the people at HITLab New Zealand for their generous support and expertise over a two year period, Without their help this work would not have been possible.

Explore behind the scenes information about the installation here.

The work is being exhibited at the Centre of Contemporary Art from 30th May - 16th June 2007.

COCA 66 Gloucester St, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Gallery times:

Monday gallery closed.

Tuesday - Friday 10:00 - 17:00

Saturday - Sunday 12:00 - 16:00

Flight Patterns was a theatre production directed by Lucette Hindin from The Clinic, Christchurch, New Zealand. It took place in a soon-to-be-demolished house in Lyttelton, New Zealand. Flight Patterns takes an idiosyncratic exploration into relationships, love, and the acts of love making. After the event I was asked to film a re-run of the production.

Presto magazine used Swimmer for the front cover of their October 2005 edition. If you pick up a copy checkout inside for additional images.

You are invited to view a new work (untitled) which is currently part of the Come As You Are exhibition at the High Street Project art gallery.

Artwork (white with red border) is positioned centre in photograph.

19th July - 6th August 2005

High Street Project 140a Litchfield St Christchurch New Zealand

Gallery Hours

Wed - Fri 11:00 - 17:00

Sat 11:00 - 14:00

Digital image Swimmer has been selected into the final of the Anthony Harper Contemporary Art Award.

25th May - 11th June 2005

CoCA 66 Gloucester St, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Gallery Hours

Tues - Fri 10:00 - 17:00

Sat - Sun 12:00 - 16:00