Points of View

Points of View :
the way it looks from the Water, Land, and Sky - a non-Human View of Nature (through the fish, dog, bird) through digital interactive walkthroughs:

In keeping with our belief that the world is a better and safer place, and certainly more fun when we shed our “anthropocentric” (human-centric) view of the Earth whereby everything is necessarily seen from the Human’s point of view alone. And instead, move towards a non-anthropocentric (life-centric) perspective with an aim to see the world from the points of view of our fellow-living beings.

Welcome to the worlds of living beings from environments fairly unknown to us. And hence, the attempt here to present a wide canvas experiential platform of interactivity that can hopefully help bring the audience close to the worlds of the non-Humans.

For this we have selected three specific life forms: the fish for water, the dog for land, and the bird for sky.
Through Point of View (PoV), we offer a first-hand interactive view of the world – of water, land, and sky – in the way that it may have been viewed by its own inhabitants.
Through a largely visual experience, we give a glimpse of how different animals actually perceive their surroundings taking into consideration their particular color palettes, speeds of movement of their actions, frictions of movement as in water, perceptions of space as in sky, the particular sensory experiences experienced by them as smells and sounds and light as on land. Or, even as sounds and smell as in water.

(1)The Fish – an Underwater Point of View:

With two-thirds of our planet covered with water and only one-third covered by landmass, an inhabitant of such a vast ecosystem as water is bound to see and behave differently. The world of the marine life, from the visually stunning aquatic plants and reefs to the deep dark trenches with dangers quite unknown, can be a hostile yet beautiful environment to experience!
Meanwhile, the vision of the fish is quite similar to the eyes of terrestrial vertebrates like mammals. Additionally, because the underwater absorbs light and the amount of light available decreases quickly, the visual experience of the fish is quite different from those on land or sky.

(2) The Dog – from a Land Point of View

In spite of the dog being Man’s best friend, we know little about the way a dog perceives or smells its surroundings. This much is now known to us that the dog, unlike humans, views the world in yellows and greys only because the dog’s vision has limited color palette, being color blind to red-green color and less sensitive to changes in greys!
We know, however, that the dog is gifted with a primordially strong sense of smell. As also a sharp sense of hearing and touch.
Many years ago, the famous avant-garde artist Andy Warhol had made a film – an entire play of activities through the point of view of the dog, including the dog speak lie a human and express an adequate amount of exasperation at the Human’s ways.
Like they say: every dog has its day!

(3) The Bird - an Aerial Point of View:

This is the space that the Human has always aspired to occupy - the skyeying the bird for being able to fly past with an enviable speed, and covering distances, as the crow flies. No roundabouts, traffic jams, friction of the water, bumpy roads.
The bird’s ability to accelerate and dive can obviously communicate to the bystander a thrill, the way a roller coater does. The skillset of aviation birds have assisted them to cover vast lands in a quick span of time. They also have a vibrancy of vision that helps them catch their prey even through long distances.
However, the most unfair cut of it all has been to attribute to the bird the notion of a “bird brain”- small, undeveloped brains that make them do stupid things and look stupid too. Recent research findings have disproven and reversed this age-old notion. And have found to everyone’s surprise that birds have highly developed navigation sensor-like glands placed close to their eye area through which they are able to not only navigate the skies, but also to find directions with GPS accuracy. Some of it did get acknowledged in ancient times when pigeon were carriers of letters as messages.
How can we bridge the gaps of perception that we harbor with regard to the non-human world, mounted by our own insensitivities and inability to comprehend and sense how another living being feels? This exhibit of three parts is a step in that direction.