Fotograf Magazine

Geert Goiris

Minute Liveliness

Taking Notice

What does it mean to “take notice” in a world that has lost its belief in enigmas? What exactly can we still call noticeable in such a world? Or to rephrase that question: what does a truly reasonable, objective and sane man see when confronted with the world of appearances?

Imagine taking a walk through nature and perceiving what you see as a random constellation of meaningless objects, worked upon by the abstract forces modern science describes. Or listening to a friend’s story, and analysing the way his lips, tongue, teeth, larynx etc. produce meaningful sounds under the direction of a system of neural connections. In these cases, both nature or your friend’s story might still be riddle today, but they are riddles with an end: one day science will explain. As long as that day hasn’t come, our hypothetical reasonable man randomly checks the functioning of the world, like a maintenance worker looking for possible flaws. To a great extent, he sees what he already knows.

To read the entire article, order
#23 artificial worlds

#23 artificial worlds

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