Exploring mental space

“Beyond situations that have been experienced, discover situations that have been dreamed” 

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space (1958, p.29)

Perceptual Motion is a short animated film created using a range of time based media techniques. The narrative highlights the link between consciousness and environmental conditions. A suitcase acts as a metaphor for the container of our emotions and a praxinoscope symbolises their dynamic and somewhat unpredictable nature, taking the protagonist from one mental space to another through a door that opens and closes as the praxinoscope rotates. The film expresses the idea that changes in our environment can suddenly alter our perceptions and the way we feel. It also reveals different environmental narratives, one positive and tranquil and the other negative and despondent, articulating the concept of a perceptual evolutionary state linked to motion and its relationship with time. The animation expresses in our inability to fully control mental space, a step towards the recognition of the complexity of emotions.