Imagine Mary; brought up from birth in a black and white room.
First presented by esteemed philosopher Frank Jackson, the Mary's Room hypothesis remains a focal point for discussion of the sensory packet known as "Qualia".
Throughout her life in this colourless environment, Mary reads many (black and white) books and learns all the laws of physics. She becomes a super-scientist: expert in the functional roles that the brain plays in the process of colour vision. Her knowledge of the physical and functional organization of the brain becomes complete to the point that there is nothing that she does not know.
When Mary finally leaves her room and experiences her first colour, would she learn anything new about the world?
In an attempt to capture the type of experience Mary might have when encountering her first colour, I've abandoned previous strategies of generating sculpture fashioned to suggest knowledge of specific themes; instead I consider the motive of this work to be experiential.
http://vimeo.com/20654028
interview on the discovery of Mary
