Article

In the eye of the beholder - perception of indeterminate art

Authors:

H. BülthoffAuthors Info & Claims

Computational Aesthetics'07: Proceedings of the Third Eurographics conference on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and Imaging

Pages 121 - 128

Published: 20 June 2007 Publication History

Abstract

How do we interpret an object - a scene - a painting? Perception research and art illuminate from different angles how the vast amount of information in our visually perceived environment is processed by the viewer to form a coherent and consistent interpretation of the world. Using drawings and paintings by the artist Robert Pepperell, this work attempts to connect these different world views. Pepperell's paintings at first glance seem to be a baroque fresco, an expressionist still-life, or a cubist collage; taking a closer look, however, this concrete interpretation vanishes and we are left with an indeterminate painting. Using psychophysical experiments and eye tracking measures, in this work we seek to illuminate the visual processing of information in Pepperell's paintings. More specifically, we will investigate how the pattern of fixations - the loci of interest - change as a function of the task ('What is depicted in this scene?' vs. 'Does this image contain people?') and of the image content. The interpretation of the experimental results in the context of perceptual research will give first insights into the perception of (indeterminate) art. Conversely, the results are also relevant for art, as they provide a kind of perceptual, measurable 'validation' of the artist's intentions.

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Digital Library

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Cited By

Wallraven CCunningham DFleming R(2008)Perceptual and computational categories in artProceedings of the Fourth Eurographics conference on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and Imaging10.5555/2381333.2381355(131-138)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2381333.2381355

Index Terms

In the eye of the beholder - perception of indeterminate art
1. Applied computing
  1. Arts and humanities
  2. Law, social and behavioral sciences

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Published In

cover image Guide Proceedings

Computational Aesthetics'07: Proceedings of the Third Eurographics conference on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and Imaging

June 2007

177 pages

ISBN:9783905673432

Editors:
Douglas W. Cunningham
University of Tubingen, Germany
,
Gary Meyer
University of Minnesota
,
László Neumann
University of Girona, Spain

Sponsors

University of Victoria: University of Victoria
iLAB: interactions Lab, University of Calgary
i CORE: i CORE
UOC: University of Calgary
ACAD: Alberta College of Art & Design
EUROGRAPHICS: The European Association for Computer Graphics
Banff Centre: The Banff Centre inspiring creativity

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Eurographics Association

Goslar, Germany

Publication History

Published: 20 June 2007

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Cited By

Wallraven CCunningham DFleming R(2008)Perceptual and computational categories in artProceedings of the Fourth Eurographics conference on Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization and Imaging10.5555/2381333.2381355(131-138)Online publication date: 18-Jun-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/2381333.2381355

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