Video artwork made for the 2019 Signal Screen and Sound Commission.

phosphene (plural) are the lightless shapes you see when you close your eyes.

Our vision is an organic system that brings with it noise and distortion. Our brains are constantly examining the signals that come through our visual cortex and cleaning them up, sorting and rearranging, trying to look for patterns. When we close our eyes, this process doesn't stop. Random noise and static in our cells still send soft signals that the brain tries to interpret as vision. This leads to phosphene, visual phenomena where the brain sees grids and splotches of light in the dark of our eyelids.

This work was an experiment in synthesising these phenomena through the design of a complex system of feedback loops, custom software and generative algorithms.

A blurry mass of black and white shapes, spinning and pulsating. letting software show us its own interpretation of these phenomena.

With sound design by the illustrious Louise McKoulty.

teflon, ashphalt and tar, were three short video demos created during the development of phosphene.