Robert L. Bowen's transdisciplinary study of art and binocular vision concentrates on space and time in early and modern histories of the photographic medium. "The human shutter" is a metaphor for binocular rivalry as a form of proto-cinema. The book features an initial classification of astonishing stereoviews, linking ideas from experimental film, painting, philosophy, and theories of perception and consciousness.
Looking closely at early stereographs, Bowen also maps the near-simultaneous arrival of photographic still, moving, and stereoscopic depth media, culminating in the dissolution of time in photography with the arrival of generative AI.
Robert L. Bowen is a New York-based artist, writer, and professor teaching photography, film, and art history. His work involves perception, distinguishing illusion from reality in photography, stereoscopic cinema, and experimental architecture.
