EINDHOEN.- A new element has been added to exhibition of the collection Once upon a time … The collection now: The Innocent Body (2014) by the Dutch artist Roland Schimmel. The artist shows us everything that happens in our brain when we use our eyes. The brain constantly produces subjective afterimages and halos which we do not consciously perceive. In this exhibition they appear in the field of vision. Visitors experience how these processes work and how personal their perception is. They are introduced to the subtle sensitivity of the body and to the neurophysiological aspects of vision.

The Innocent Body can be seen on the second floor of the new building up to 5 April 2015. The project is a unique cooperative venture between the Van Abbemuseum, the artist Roland Schimmel and an interdisciplinary team of students at the Technical University of Eindhoven (TU/e) led by the university senior lecturer Dr. Kees van Overveld. The technical realisation was carried out in cooperation with the MAD Emergent Art Center.

Two galleries in the museum
The installation takes up two galleries and it is actually the way in which these galleries are linked that heightens the experience. First of all, visitors enter an apse-shaped gallery with natural light in which a mural by Roland Schimmel manipulates the unconscious reflexes; afterimages incessantly appear to be reflected between the eye and the wall. Although this involves manipulation, the experience is direct and physical: it is a democratic experience, the same for everyone, and at the same time highly personal.

The visitor then passes through a light tunnel to enter a darkened gallery, developed and designed by the team of students from the TU/e. Here the internal processes of the effects of halos and afterimages which were experienced in the first gallery are simulated by means of computer animation. In addition, the visitor unconsciously influences this projection by the processes of tracking and face-capturing.

Here it is difficult to make a distinction between what is produced by your own brain and what comes from the technologically controlled environment. The two appear to merge together and become assimilated in a hallucinatory way.

A physical experience
The Innocent Body reveals the similarities and differences between the intangible character of the afterimages produced by the brain and the virtual character of digital images which constantly confront us in everyday life. In the exhibition biology is related to technology, and physical processes are related to computer-aided processes.

Afterimages and halos have a function: they form a necessary layer below our objective perception in order to restore a balance. They prevent damage and ensure that our visual experience becomes more harmonious and balanced. It allows us to look in an uninhibited and innocent way. Technologies such as face-capturing, animation and tracking are often used to guide and control our behaviour. Roland Schimmel examines how these two worlds relate to each other and how they can come together.

During GLOW, the Eindhoven festival for the art of light earlier this year, a projection of The Innocent Body was shown on the grey façade of the new building of the museum.