4th Dimension
Published Feb. 24, 2021
The
elimination of discrete pagination in favor of a continuous scroll in web
design can be read as the naturalization or invisibilization of the gaps
between different pieces of content. Instead of clearly differentiating one
from another, the scroll presents us with a single temporal image. That is, an
image in motion, a moving picture. If figurative still images are two
dimensional representations that, through the calculated placement of elements,
open a window to a third dimension, the positioning of images in the scroll
reveals not depth, but movement and an according flow of time. Early 20th
century avant-garde movements, like post-impressionism, cubism, and futurism, considered
time as a fourth dimension that revealed the conventionality of the invisible perspective
space structuring our vision. In this sense, the scroll or the moving image is
akin to text and analytical thought: it critically tackles the delusive
synthesis of perspective. It’s an iconoclastic image; one that doesn’t show us
space as fully constituted, but in the process of becoming. And yet, the scroll
is experienced all-at-once, not like a train of distinct words, but as a stream
that sucks you in with its overflow of sensorial stimuli.
Feautured sounds:
Be a Body - Warnymph (Grimes)
Other related media: Google Arts & Culture
Further reading:
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964, 2006). L'Oeil et L'Esprit. Paris: Gallimard.
Other related media: Google Arts & Culture
Further reading:
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964, 2006). L'Oeil et L'Esprit. Paris: Gallimard.