Primary concepts of contemporary installation typically expose a viewer to their own sensory experiences through phenomenological aspects. Mimetic engulfment, or the disintegration of the subject, in one example, can be realised in the through the use of mirrors incorporated within installation art works. In the 1960s and 1970s, there seemed to be a huge rise in the number of artists that encompassed mirrors within their work, in conjunction with the rise in the interest of phenomenological perception. Reflective surfaces seemed to be an obvious way to prompt people ‘reflect’ upon themselves.
At a similar point in time, Jacques Lacan’s paper on ‘The Mirror Stage’ had been translated as a re-interpretation of work begun by Freud. He proposed that at a precise moment in an infant’s life, a child develops a response from a reflection of itself in a mirror, which is then identified as ‘I’. This stage describes the formation of the ego, which we believe is the point in life which is significant to the development of consciousness, as it is when one can look upon oneself in recognition. It is also important to acknowledge the fact that this test has been carried out on animals – dolphins, for example. We already know dolphins to be intelligent creatures; they are widely considered to be the next most intelligent after human and chimpanzees. A test on this subject was undertaken by Diana Reise of the University of New York at the Baltimore Aquarium. The test involved placing a two-way mirror in a pool of dolphins in order to study how they react to their own reflections. It has been found that most other animals pay little or no attention to themselves, or think that their reflection is another of their own kind. However, a dolphin, just like a young child, makes lots of movement, makes faces and watches itself Dolphins learn quickly that they are watching themselves, but at what point they make that realisation is yet to be determined. It is very similar to human behaviour; child and dolphin go through the same stages despite being 95 million years of evolution apart.
The fact our brains process in such similar ways teaches us that we are not alone and that we are surrounded by other beings with heightened intelligence also. Here it would be acceptable to assume that dolphins possess a consciousness, although not identical to our own. The dolphin’s brain would have been given some form of consciousness for it to carry out the tasks that Mother Nature requires in order to drive its evolution. This is much like a spider knowing how to construct a web without considering how to do it – it is an action based on inherent instinct rather than instruction. Human brains, on the other hand, seem to be able to construct a self from this phenomenon, but they do so without knowing it (Dennett, D., 1993, pg.415).
Most interestingly, however, when we study this further it seems to oppose Merleau-Ponty’s idea that consciousness is confirmed by reflection (‘seeing itself seeing’). If our awareness comes from an image of ourselves that we can reflect upon knowing that is our self, Lacan shows that your sense of yourself becomes a mere illusion. The illusion is only an imaginary concept to defend ourselves from the original fragmented image. The recognition of one’s self characterises the ego and the relationship with our own body image. It ‘illustrate[s] the conflictual nature of the dual relationship’ (Lacan and Fink, 2007, pg.75).
The reflection gives the infant a visual identity of ‘wholeness’ as the child learns that the reflection is itself. However, as a baby still lacks co-ordination over its own bodily movements, it leads to a fragmented body image. Lacan stated that there becomes a rivalry and tension between subject and image, leading to an identification with the ego (Evans, 1966). Lacan also hypothesised that the ego is a product of misunderstanding from a false recognition. Our world is then seen from the world looking back at us, our awareness of the world is dependent on our interactions with the world and within it. Whilst Merleau-Ponty’s ideas about reflection assures us of the unity and harmony of the self and the world, Lacan describes our ego to be disrupted and destabilised through fragmentation.
sarahpadbury 