The Gizmo and The Glitch:
Telepathy, Ocular Philosophy, and other
Extensions of Sensation
Kristen
Gallerneaux Brooks
This chapter will investigate the byproducts
and doctrines of paranormal culture, as it is conflated with technology and its
connective sensory tissues, in both analog and digital forms. Perspectives from
material culture and folklore studies, parapsychology, critical art theory, and
other forms of inquiry will be directed towards discussions of the ocular
philosophies scattered throughout the history of paranormal research,
specifically those areas most concerned with non-normative sensation. The first
half relates to “analog” instances connected to non-retinal and telepathic
vision, with discussions in the second half focusing on aspects of the
“digital,” especially spectral matters narrated by the Google Street View
feature.
My own position in this dialogue is not to
validate or deny the authenticity of the cases presented within, but is rooted
in the opinion that the
visual and material facets of paranormal culture are overlooked artifacts that
have the ability to act as active entities that encourage the development of narrative,
and as catalysts for debate concerning the rhetoric of truth. All of this is
inspired by, yet occurs outside of, the pictorial frame. This relates to the
concept of visual legends and visual memorates, terms I use to
describe processes of narrative, supported through the use of the invisible
attributes of tangible artifacts as opposed to oral histories.
How fitting a topic then, considering that psychical
research has often placed an emphasis on the visual in tandem with narrative.
These byproducts of psi research exist in the form of documentation and devices
of the research environment and its experiments, taking form in drawings, photographs,
and films. I hope to
show that the aesthetic and philosophical considerations of the metaphorical
and metaphysical thresholds present in paranormal culture have the potential to
uncover intersections of belief, science, and modes of human creativity that
can create new forms of shared experience, visual, spiritual, and otherwise.
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