Blindness and "Projective Reconstruction" + the Nihlist Spasm Band

Murray Favro, "Synthetic Lake"

As we discussed several images of Murray Favro's series of pieces, "Projective Resconstruction", I couldn't keep my mouth from falling open a couple times. I thought that both the intellectual process behind the works and the effort (both mental and physical) that it must have taken to plan them and carry them out must have been incredible. I thought that, but mostly, actually I was thinking--practically bouncing around in my seat, thinking how much better it would be to see these pieces in person, and wondering how I might possibly do that. I would especially love to see his piece, "Synthetic Lake", although choosing between that and "Van Gogh's Bedroom at Arles" would be difficult. I realized later that I kind of just assumed that along with the projection onto and the rolling of the canvas for "Synthetic Lake" there would be a audio track of waves crashing against a shore, but I don't know if that is the case. I think it would be pretty great, though.

I remember watching a movie once, in which there was a couple (a man and a woman), and the man was blind but then he had some kind of operation to restore his sight. After the operation was a success, he had to be slowly introduced to life as a seeing person because it was such a huge transition and all. The doctor showed him a picture of an apple on a magazine, and he was a little confused and kind of upset because it wasn't a real apple, and he wasn't used to representations of things, I guess--as a person who had not been able to see his whole life. I really wonder what he would have made out of "Projective Reconstruction". Before the surgery he may not have been confused at all by "Bedroom at Arles" or "Still Life" because he would have been able to feel something substantial with his hands, which might live up to the titles of the work--"Synthetic Lake" might have been a sufficient experience for him as a blind person feeling the work, but the gap between a seeing person's experience and his would be larger since the exact texture and shape of the waves is mostly visual. After the operation, given that he was no longer permitted to touch the work or get too close, both "Bedroom at Arles" and "Still Life" might not be very confusing for him at a glance, but he might not be able to grasp that what he saw was not what was actually there--not very shortly after having the surgery, anyway. "Synthetic Lake", however might have been quite confusing, since it is quite obvious because of the mechanisms visible under the rolling canvas, and the containment of the water, and yet the movement and realism of the lake. Obviously I have no experience or education on the phenomenon of the effects of regaining sight on people who were once blind, or how that might manifest in the setting of an art exhibition like this; these are just my speculations.

Returning to the subject of my itching to see these pieces in person, as a substitute I decided that it would still be pretty great if I could find a video of "Synthetic Lake", but I searched Youtube to no avail. I did, however, find this video of the Nihilist Spasm Band playing a song entitled "Ode to Murray Favro". I guess I kept wanting the words to mean something, although given their music is kind of related to the Dada movement, I suppose the words aren't meant to mean anything...I liked the noise, though (but I'm not sure how much of it is due to the quality of the video).