An exploration of Life Art
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In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art
Created by Jonathan Jennings Harris
    Ritual 7
    A ritual to collapse related phenomena into a single plane of perception
    • Essay
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    View film (2:23)
    A plane is a flat surface that is infinitely large. It has zero thickness.

    We are taught to believe that the world is an objective three-dimensional space, and that it can be mapped using concepts such as “points” and “lines” (e.g. this point represents where you are and that point represents where you are not; this line represents the boundary where this thing ends and where that thing begins; this thing is close and that thing is far). This Cartesian view of reality is so deeply ingrained in our sense of perception that we rarely question its truth. And yet upon closer inspection, there is something strange about its logic.

    A point is defined as purely a location, without any width, length, or depth — and a line is merely defined as a series of points. In other words, a point is something without any apparent reality, and a line is a series of those very same somethings, none of which have any apparent reality either.

    Elements of perception

    Thus we arrive at the geometric concept of a “plane” — a flat surface that is infinitely large, but which has zero thickness (i.e. also without any apparent reality). In this sense, a plane can be understood as encompassing either nothing or everything, or neither, or both.

    In our ordinary perception, we have the sense of certain things being “over here” and other things being “over there” (e.g. the mountains are farther away than the rock, the sky is farther away than the water). And yet, with a slightly different way of looking, we can perceive the plane of perception itself.

    • Collapsing phenomena

    In this altered view, everything we perceive is equidistant with everything else — merely phenomena arising and falling in perception, which encompasses every discernable something all together at once.

    • Perceiving perception

    This ritual explores this altered plane of perception — collapsing dust particles, objects, memories, histories, landscapes, and environments into a single surface that can be worked with as one — swept up, studied, smashed.

    In the hayloft of the High Acres Farm barn, sixty years of dust are swept into a single shaft of sunlight with an old wooden broom.

    Fluid dynamics

    Bits of the past are surveyed: a fox-head trophy, a ceramic owl, a taxidermied family of snow weasels, a brass door knocker, a collection of silver frames.

    Elements of the past

    The peaceful lake is interrupted on a quiet summer evening by a sudden splash of water. A deer is shot with an arrow, and the kill creates a sudden splash of red.

    Revealing the plane

    In the living room of the old Main House, a camera is positioned looking through a sheet of glass. The day proceeds; the shadows move across the landscape. As evening arrives, the sheet of glass begins to reflect the interior. At twilight, we see half within and half without. At dusk, the outer world has vanished, and all we see is the inner room — a painting of two cheetahs in Africa, hung above a floral sofa.

    • Liminal space

    The film transforms from timelapse photography to video as I walk into the frame with my grandfather’s hammer and smash the space that he built.

    Breaking the frame

    In the renovation of the Main House that followed in 2017, the wall where the cheetah painting once hung was demolished — replaced by an archway with a view from the front door of the house straight through to the lake in the “distance”.

    • New view
    Performed in 2015
    View film (2:23)
    Download text (PDF)
    • Equidistant
      On Covid, perception, and losing the world
      Published Mar 7, 2022

    A series of dots arranged in a circle appears to form a world — but one that only emerges from that series of subjects.

    • Bow And Arrow
      In 1 ritual
    • Camera Kit 1
      In 21 rituals
    • Ceramic Owl
      In 2 rituals
    • Deer Target
      In 1 ritual
    • Fox Trophy
      In 2 rituals
    • Glass Sheets
      In 22 rituals
    • Glass Stand
      In 22 rituals
    • Lake Water
      In 11 rituals
    • Paper Quotes
      In 8 rituals
    • Paper Stationery
      In 9 rituals
    • Red Dye
      In 1 ritual
    • Steel Hammer
      In 3 rituals
    • White Clothes
      In 14 rituals
    • White Paint Pen
      In 22 rituals
    • Wood Broom
      In 2 rituals
    • Frank Galipeau
      In 2 rituals
    • Jonathan Jennings Harris
      In 23 rituals
    • High Acres Farm
      In 24 rituals
    • The Barn
      In 6 rituals
    • The Beach
      In 11 rituals
    • The Boathouse
      In 3 rituals
    • The Main House
      In 6 rituals
    • The Shed
      In 4 rituals
    • The Woods
      In 6 rituals
    • Equidistant
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      Download all stills from “Equidistant” (13 MB)

    • Created by
      Jonathan Jennings Harris
    • Edited with
      Scott Thrift
    • Original music by
      Julio Monterrey
    • Filmed at
      High Acres Farm
      Next
      • Essay 8
        Scarecrow
        A ritual to rectify patterns of fear using an effigy dressed as my mother
      In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art.
      • FAQ
      • Genealogy
      • Images
      • Music
      • Credits
      • Contact
      In Fragments is an exploration of Life Art
      Created by Jonathan Jennings Harris