Automatic writing is commonly understood to be a form of unconscious expression, where a human in a fugue or similar state, writes automatically. The writing often resembles hand-writing but tends to look more like scribble. The perceived value of automatic writing is dependent on the apprehension that human beings possess a subconscious (or unconscious) that can be interpreted through the act of automatic writing. The technique was popular amongst early 20thC aficionados of theosophy and early psychology. Surrealist artists such as Andre Masson used the technique to develop semi-abstract artworks, whilst later authors and artists, such as Henri Michaux and Cy Twombly, employed the technique to develop highly sophisticated paintings and 'writings' that questioned both the authenticity of the artist's mark-making and the semiotic potential of writing. Jackson Pollock's late paintings can also be interpreted within this framework.
The work also seeks to evoke the structure and appearance of organic neural material (eg: the human brain) in order to further engage the idea of the subconcscious (both human and as a machine representation) as the origin of the illisible field of writing the work appears to manifest as.
'Neurography' is a further development of the prior recent interactive installation artworks 'Autography' (2020) and 'Corpography' (2023). The work is interactive with viewers (interactors' bodies). The point of view the work is seen from is defined by the position of the viewers heads, whilst the behaviour of the individual 'neural' characters are partly dependent on the physical movement of the viewers (eg: their spines control the axon, or backbone, of the neural character, their arms the dendrites and their legs the terminals). The work employs video projection and body tracking technology to immerse interactors within an interactive visual environment.
Screen recording of 'Neurography' being interacted with by two interactors
(note the moments interactors enter the installation space as the 'neural' characters suddenly amplify their behaviour due to the new information the interactors create)