“The topography of the body” is a hypnotic audio-visual narrative about the human body as a wireless transceiver. It is my latest video-work, created in November/December 2019, just before the worldwide lockdown. The video's narrative is aligned with the Web Biennial's theme as it's focused on the non-representational, boundless quality underlying the reality as we know it. It is based on the theories of dr. Giuseppe Calligaris (1876 – 1944), an Italian neurologist, whose main research interest was the body-mind reflex chains. He discovered that human skin is covered with a network of lines that have less electrical resistance, are hyperaesthetic, and form geometrical patterns.

These invisible lines – when stimulated with specific tools or a low electrical current – produce changes in perception of a person and lead to psychic abilities. A person may for example see (in their mind's eye) the images from distant lands, see the microscopic world of bacteria, communicate telepathically or re-experience – with a great amount of detail – any event from their childhood. Each body-mind unit is a part of a network, a vast circuit of information in which everyone and everything is interconnected. To complement the Calligaris' theory, other references are weaved into the video's narrative: e.g. holomovement of David Bohm, excerpts from the works of Karen Barad, or the theory of acupuncture.

 

The video deals with the idea that information permeates everything; everything – in its essence – is information. According to Calligaris' theory the human body is a receiver and transmitter of information, and a part of the network spanning across the entire universe. Everything is connected with everything else and each body modulates the expression of other bodies within the network. All phenomena across time and space are stored in a boundless etheric library which can be accessed by anyone, given they know the entry coordinates. By activating certain lines on the skin a person can for example learn about their ancestors' heritage or remotely see across any distance. This etheric library is the database of the universe where all experiences, images and sounds are stored, ready to be displayed on the screen of anyone's mind. This way any image, any sensation exists in a potential and in an experiential form simultaneously, belongs to the past, present and future alike. Every individual is a creator and a perceiver, he/she broadcasts a certain signal and can tune in to the signals from others. In this worldview there is no difference between the image and the information, the dream and the waking state, the origin and the destination. Everything is a part of this self-generating core, the ultimate reality – apeiron. All boundaries between bodies are illusory, because there is no separateness per se, just expressions of information. We are all surfing on these waves of data, picking up certain inputs and experiencing them through our minds and our physical senses.