Transductions of the Virtual Eye

Although I’m no pro with rendering software, I’m very interested in the way Ray Tracing operates. The system is designed in a way where light and shadow endeavor to validate their own existence. A shadows origin is not actually at the shadow. The origin of light is not actually the light source, but is instead projected from the point of the virtual eye. This is a really poetic idea that reminded me of a quote I read from Merleau-Ponty where he stated “The seer is in the world, and the world is in the seer”. In other words, our perception of the world stems from within us, our very own “virtual eye”. The process of creating art is very similar: Through extracting its phenomenological pulp, the Artist renders the space through its sensual presence and not how it actually “exists.” So the result is the same in both instances. We are subjected to the invisible mechanisms driving the virtual real of space, born from a process of interactive prosthesis. These modes of rendering space almost behave in a way that is inverse— detached from the real world, and operating within their own sensational logic. I’ve been enjoying the process of transduction between these two logic systems: The eye of Ray Trace and my very own virtual eye.