Series. Puntopia.
Title: Collideoscope. Grand Royalton, One Grantai, Estrada Governador Nobre de Carvalho, Taipa.
(fiction)
A kaleidoscope is an optical instrument with two or more reflecting surfaces (or mirrors) tilted to each other at an angle, so that one or more (parts of) objects on one end of the mirrors are seen as a regular symmetrical pattern when viewed from the other end. The inventor, Scot, David Brewster, believed it would become a popular instrument “for the purposes of rational amusement” when released for sale to the public in 1817.
Jump forward halfway across the world, to Puntopia, some 204 years later, gambling addiction on the other hand is no doubt a form of irrational amusement. Those running the facade fully understand this. Zoom out to look at the bigger picture, the optical illusion presented, in all of it’s gilded, glitzy facets, one comes to realize while peering across the numerous gambling halls, all full of smoke and mirrors, that unlike the entertainment value found in a kaleidoscope, here, entertainment comes in the form of illusion, elusion, delusion.
Heinrich Kulver, an American/German psychologist who pioneered the study of cybernetics and neuroanatomy, coined the phrase (excuse the pun) ‘form constant’.
Just to be clear, while most punters have never heard of a ‘form constant’ many experience them while been entertained. According to Kulver, ‘form constants’ are mental patterns which appear in the brain during sleep deprviation, delirium, psychotic episodes, migraine headaches, dizziness and from excessive alcohol and drug intake. The spiral is one such form constant, as is the cobweb and checkerboard. The spinning roulette wheel, is a real time example of a ‘form constant. Kaleidescopic in nature, and entertaining most certainly.
However the collision of inner greed with outer reality, and for those caught up in the betting spiral down, the amusement ratio is way way less. More cataclysmic/collidescopic. Then it’s all fractals. Cracked mirror stuff.
https://richardmarkdobson.com/photographer/personal-work/existential/puntopia/1
Written by Richard Mark Dobson / The RMD Gallery/The Existential Artist.
“The Vibe is the Narrative, the Narrative is the Vibe”
