dance #302, gestures of brain action

Sunday October 18, 2009

Gestures of brain action

11:15 p.m. An auto-tuned Carl Sagan enacts gestures of brain action: “But the brain does much more than just recollect. It inter-compares, it synthesizes, it analyzes, it generates abstractions…The brain has its own language for testing the structure and consistency of the world…” He articulates each idea with a distinct gesture. I play the YouTube video over and over, watching each of these gestures of brain functionality.  His hands and arms and face are caught up in precise articulation. Eyes and eyebrows alight as his mouth articulates the word “synthesizes” and he brings his hands in together to gather up the force of thought in the space between his palms. Auto-tuning bends the temporality of his voice and gestures.  Sagan’s performance in Cosmos is reanimated.

Alice is here with me, insistently calling out for attention while I focus on the movement. Now sitting with her back to me on the chair as I post. The day was sun-filled and cooling.

~ by nmyers on October 18, 2009.