Friday 25 September 2009

Derren Brown - It's Her Eyes

I realise now (on the repeat) that it's the Museum Curator's eyes. I thought they were funny in the way that in each large pupil there is a circle, but I thought it was some sort of reflection or where she was. More likely it's post-production editing, like the adverts put in newspapers suggesting to draw circles in between the three weeks from recording and the live broadcast and appearing today. Also Objective Productions had the concentric circles in its O - noticed at the end. Four weeks back the female Museum Curator drew three concentric circles apparently unknown to Derren Brown and held under newspaper wrappings for a week in the museum until the recording. For the time of the recording from the museum, a week after her drawing, she was transported unaware to Stonehenge but was blindfolded and beforehand placed inside a capsule ("isolation tank") where the blindfold came off. 30% or so of people in the studio drew circles. Presumably he prepared the museum to influence the 35% or so that drew concentric circles and 10% that drew Stonehenge in the week.

I was interested because on first showing I was flipping channels between it and BBC Parliament and the first Question Time with Robin Day in 1979. When Derren Brown invited the home audience to draw during the adverts, which Derren Brown said would assist the unconscious mind, I went back to BBC Parliament and did some doodles. The boat, and the yacht were too conscious, but around fast pics of Michael Foot and the hair of Robin Day I just did a spiral. I felt that that was the first unconscious as if unintended drawing. I did think afterwards of it looking as a spiral from above, like it was solid, which is why it has that solid running track-like drawing. My afterthought was whether it was like a galaxy. Then I did a circle and square but felt this was naff and obvious. The chin of Michael Foot was added afterwards because he looked too much like me.

Because of that, later, still flipping channels, I drew him again on the other side of the stiff paper (left). These pictures are not equivalent size, in that the first is virtually A4 reduced to 600 pixels high and the second is about half of A4 position, closer to one third, also reduced to 600 pixels high, both from black and white scans. Also below is the spiral I drew in close up, from a large colour scan made greyscale and adjusted for contrast, which has the equivalent of three circles, which would be correct.
Last week I got up from my seat quite easily, and was not influenced at all, but perhaps this week as something of a drawer I was influenced.

And later... It's clear looking at the website comments (especially Rob on 25/09/2009 22:21:21, scroll down) that there were many displays of circles going on and indeed I did think of 'coming in' each within the other (but not the Olympics, unlike Rob) when he spoke of the location of the museum by starting with a suggested map of Britain and then London and homing in on to the museum (stage by stage).

Meanwhile, stare at my cartoon of Derren Brown, and see if you notice anything.

5 comments:

-frank said...

Well, I see the numerals 771. But usually when looking at your caricatures I see penises, almost without fail.

Brother David said...

Is it OK that there are times you seem to ramble and I have no idea about what you are writing? But in a very different form than the ABC!

Pluralist (Adrian Worsfold) said...

You see penises without fail. You might be on to something there, if you are sat down.

Ramble on, me? Ramble? I don't ramble. I don't ramble on at all. Come on, you don't really think I ramble on and on that much do you. Surely not. I wouldn't have thought so; I can see no evidence for it at all. None. None whatsoever. Well, not really.

Anonymous said...

Is there some kind of goat eating his hair? :)

Anonymous said...

There are some yellow circles in the background