Take these thoughts as a stretch of the imagination with an extremely hypothetical end. I'm not a scholar in chaos theory, but I have spent some time trying to break it down visually.
The chaos theory specializes in sensitivity. You have a start moment, something traceable not too far in time to the concluding moment. The common example, the butterfly. Flaps. Poof. Next week, the weather changes. A tiny ripple in the original equation has dramatic effects on the outcome. Because of mixing environments, its very difficult to extract certain moments altering certain outcomes. (Please note, I am summarizing from a couple sources for clarity's sake.)
With the invention of the television, man's actions have drastically been honed in one general direction. Over thousands of centuries, we toiled in fields, hunted over large spaces, and moved our bodies to fit the everyday task of survival. However, our necks these days see much less action as we place the computer, the tv and the windshield perfectly in central view. Building on the Chaos theory, because our heads now face the same direction for long periods of time, our energy is forced back into the environment in one scary directional furry of blinks. Compare the blinks to a butterfly. Our inactivity and passivity has blinked our way into this century.
Although I can cannot generate any actual scientific time line, just imagine, what if when all the world focused intently for hours on 911, a tsunami was created? We waited patiently for answers with fervent tears and blinks, and instead of directing this energy at each other, we directed it to a television.
I came up with this idea sitting blankly in a class, wondering how a small room could feel so still when 250 students scribbled and huffed frantically at the same timed test? Then, after a couple pages of notes, I wondered, what if I could capture that energy?
The piece I created for my exit show only represented half of my idea. In front of a comfortable chair, I placed a television on a video loop of commercials edited down to just one second clips. The viewer, compelled to watch, sat restfully while listening to a track of my breathing deeply, which (hopefully) encouraged the viewer to breathe at the same pace. I wasn't able to set up the next part, but, I bought an individual oxygen bag for each viewer. You'd hook one up to your face and visually see all of that trapped air moving in and out.
I'd like to finish this piece, modify the bags so they actually hold the viewer's air for collection, and maybe play an infomercial rationalizing how the bags storing all that energy could save the world from global warming and further destruction, or use the same energy against the terrorists. Too much?
I've never actually been a big fan of butterflies.