“Colors don’t exist.” Any fan of Spanish scientific dissemination knows this phrase and quickly associates it with Cum Lillovision neuroscientist at Rio Tinto, author open your eyes.
This book, published under the Next Door Publishers label, is a very comprehensive overview of the most curious facts about vision. From the way we see colors before animal visiontalking about how art has shaped the vision of artists as well as viewers.
All these stories are part of a very visual book full of optical illusionsbut also very musical. And it consists in the fact that each section is accompanied by a verse from a song that is somehow connected with the vision, in most cases with the content of this particular section.
Why don’t colors exist?
As he says in his book Cum Lillo, if colors were something fixed, all living beings would see the same thing. However, we are well aware that this is not the case. In his last chapter he also talks about the vision of animals, but it is not necessary to read it to know that there are animals that see a very wide or very short range of colors. Humans are by no means the ones who see the most.
And this is because, in fact, our eyes detect different wavelengths electromagnetic spectrum. When light reflected on the surface, enters our eyes and passes into photoreceptors located in the retina. There they interact with certain proteins that process information and send it through the optic nerve to the brain, which will be responsible for translate in what we see.
This composition photoreceptors and proteins It is different in species and even in individuals, which is why we do not all see the same way, despite the fact that the light and the objects on which it falls are the same.
It is important to think about this before talking about vision, so the author open your eyes always use this phrase in your speeches. And that’s how he explained hypertextit’s the way everyone we move away from what we see and we understand that each person has his own way see the world. “The fact that colors don’t exist is a bit like breaking the mold when they say that what you see doesn’t have to be exactly the same as what the other person sees,” he says. “In the book, I try to reflect the fact that each of us, not only as a person, but also as a living being, will perceive the world in a very special way.”
vision in art
It is this different view of the world that has allowed many artists to have such a distinct style. And this is what, in order to understand art, science is neededboth visually and in other areas.
In her book, Conchi Lillo talks about how art underwent a radical change as artists began to learn physics and mathematics. This allowed them to work with perspective and depth and make much more realistic work. But in addition, knowing how our vision works taught them deceive us so that we can see in their work what they want us to see.
It was conscious manipulation of art. But there was also unconscious manipulation, when artists painted what they saw, but what they saw was spoiled by vision problems. In his book Conchi Lillo gives examples such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet or Mary Cassatt.
Retinopathy, macular degeneration, cataracts, or near total blindness changed the outlook of these artists. But they were not afraid of obstacles in their vision, but decided to give the world that special vision with which they saw it. But did they record only what they saw, or could it be said that the loss of meaning strengthens artistic sense? For Lillo, the answer is yes. “People who lose their sight, especially if it happens gradually, try to direct all their interest in capturing reality with their other senses, so they strengthen them and open up what was previously unknown to them,” he explains. “Hearing is aggravated, touch too … There are even people who begin play the piano according to rumors“.
In fact, this sharpness of feelings allows them not only to create art, but also to experience it. For example, in Spain ONCE has Typhlological Museum. It presents works embossed and 3D so that blind people can experience art first hand, without being told about it. “It’s a different way of seeing art.”
And this applies not only to the sense of sight. Beethoven was able to compose beautiful symphonies completely deaf. And even in conditions of loss of sight, not only artists are mentioned. In fact, in the book, Lillo also tells an interesting story about a blind photographer. Eugene Bavkar.
No art without science, no science without art
This is a book full of science but also art. In all its forms. And we have already seen that science helps artists exalt their work. But does the same thing happen in reverse? Is art necessary for science? The truth is that this may seem less intuitive; but at least for Concha Lillo, Yes it.
“There can be art behind science. For example, Santiago Ramon y Cajal had incredible art, the drawings he made from what he saw through a microscope are impressive. All the students who followed his school had a very artistic way of capturing science. And it is that if you combine science and art, in the end we all win because almost everyone has a certain perception or sensitivity to art. In fact, more to art than science, so if we put them together, it’s much more likely that we can spread science.”
Conchi Lillo, neuroscientist and author of Open Your Eyes.
Vision music selected by Conchi Lillo
Something very curious open your eyes is that each section of each chapter begins with song fragment. This is not at all what was squeezed in, but what was invented very organic. “I listen to a lot of music, I’m generally a rocker, but I listen to everything,” says Lillo on the other end of the line. “I’m also very copler, I’m Andalusian, I grew up with those things.” For this reason, it was by listening to her favorite songs that she realized that they convey much of what she says in her book. “I found that naturally when I wrote a certain chapter, I would say, ‘Wow, I heard that in a song.’
So he decided to add these curious headings. “I like it click so I can link chapters to songs,” he continues. “Not all songs are related to love or heartbreak, many of them are related to the world of looks, eyes, etc., because man is a very visual animalWe allow ourselves to be guided by these things.”
For this reason, Abre los ojos is a book that is not only read, but also listened to. In fact, it even has its own Spotify playlist. In addition, everything that appears in this article is only a small selection from the wide range of curious facts about vision that can be found on its pages. Not only related to art, but also with many other topics. One thing is clear: when you read, you look at the world again with the same eyes but you think much more about everything that led you to this.
Source: Hiper Textual
