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February the 11th 2014! Diana Stroie ! L3!

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I dont believe in reality really, its a bluff. But I believe in a kind of reality that exists because of all the longing, dreams, secrets, nightmares, mostly longings. I think no picture is without longing. This allows you to use what you are afraid of, as a trampoline; to channel your energy into your creativity; go inside and open up like a sharp knife, like a doctor operating.! - Anders Petersen!

What is reality, " really" , from photographer Anders Petersens perspective? What does he mean when he states that reality is a " bluff" ? He most certainly doesnt mean to say that we live in the Matrix, but perhaps he means that reality is rather bland compared to what lies within our minds. ! If you ask somebody a simple question such as " where are your feet?" theyll probably point at their feet and say " well, thats where my feet are, what kind of question is that?" but can one be absolutely sure that their feet are wherever they think they are? How do they know? Because theyre just there. Or are they?! Now tell the same person " whatever you do, dont think of a blue elephant" , and, inevitably, theyll think of a blue elephant. More specically, theyll think of an image representing a blue elephant. ! When you ask about their feet, rst of all, before looking at their feet (well, if they have any) theyll think of the image of something that is "real", i.e. of something that physically exists, whereas the blue elephant only exists as a mental image. !

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Reality, according to google today, is " the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them" . In 1721, philosopher George Berkeley stated otherwise; to him, everything is a result of ones ideas imagination and cannot exist independently of it. He created a metaphysical doctrine in which he denies material substance altogether so the feet are in your head next to the blue elephant.! If I were to agree with Anders Petersen on a berkeleyan level and say that indeed, the world we live in is nothing but a hoax, that would imply that our feet are as much of a " bluff" as the blue elephant which one may unsuccessfully try not to think of. ! Professor Stephen Hawkings model-dependent realism theory suggests that " we cannot know reality as it is in itself, but only an approximation of it provided by the intermediary of models" , as stated in his and Leonard Mlodinows book called The Grand Design (published in 2010).! Petersens dreams, longings and secrets are of course real, because he thinks of them. He owns them and hes free to do as he pleases with them: keep them hidden and never create again or put them into images and share these said dreams, longings and secrets with us and continue being the powerful artist that he is. Creativity and imagination along with a certain degree of technical skills allow us to translate our thoughts into words, images, sounds etc. and share them with other people because us humans are social beings, after all. !

We are, actually, very opinionated social beings. We agree, disagree, like, dislike, love, hate or have an indifferent attitude towards art (and other things). Indifference might be the worst critic an artist can get, because it means that their work doesnt evoque any emotions. !

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Theres a little random fact that crossed my mind while looking at Petersens work; it may seem unrelated but I nd it nonetheless relevant: "modern"day mushroom experts take photographs of the ground and then search for mushrooms by looking at the camera display because its easier to distinguish them from grass through a camera lens than it would be by just looking at the ground with the naked eye. ! Petersens art is about trying to distinguish the relevant aspect of life from banality in his images, which takes a lot of post-production work (time spent choosing the images, he doesnt edit them) just like the mushroom experts end up having a few photographs of mushrooms and a camera full of grass shots. He searches for outstanding aspects in the photographs he takes in order to get pure and seemingly unltered emotion that is just "curated" by his eyes. !

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That being said, Im a rm believer that each person has their own "lter" of perception just like a camera lens, our feelings, moods and even personality could inuence our way we perceive reality.! I also believe that Anders Petersen is trying to tell us to always keep our spirit awake and be ready to absorb the things that we see everywhere all the time. We need to handle these images shrewdly inside our minds and souls in order to turn them into ideas worthy of this translation. ! So nally, whats real, is it the feet or the blue elephant? Neither or both? We can agree (or disagree) that we all have the same model of reality but nally we cant know what reality is "really". Do we even know if or why we exist? ! What we do know is that we can keep our mind open, take the example of this artist and - mentally or physically - collect images that makes us feel something, just like an art curator does, let them inspire us to create new things and share them with the world through whatever skills we have because art is freedom and freedom is reassuring. !