In my work, I’m interested in how perception works. I like to complicate the act of looking so that you might be able to see the process of seeing.

Once you dive into how perception works, you run into the logical question: what is doing the perceiving? What is the nature of the conscious mind?

I’ve put together a short research paper summing up my understanding (and perhaps misunderstanding) of the current field of neuroscience, and how I try to relate this to my work.

Summary

Mikael Sandblom’s work explores how perception is constructed by the mind, rather than passively received. In one series, images of water waves are interlaced with multiple sky scenes, so that viewers see different interpretations depending on where they focus. In another series, wave patterns are transformed into three-dimensional structures that appear coherent from a distance but fragment up close, revealing the brain’s role in creating the illusion. These works make visible the mental processes behind perception, echoing contemporary scientific and philosophical ideas about consciousness, including predictive processing, integrated information, and the distributed, revisionary nature of experience. The art invites viewers to see themselves seeing.

Ambiguity and Illusion:  Art and the Mechanics of Perception

Mikael Sandblom’s work investigates the instability of perception and the active role of the mind in constructing visual experience. Two related bodies of work invite viewers to reflect on their own perceptual processes, to, in effect, see themselves seeing.

In one series, images of water waves are transformed into vertical line patterns that alternately reveal two distinct sky images: one occupying the dark bands, the other filling the spaces between. From a distance, the surface of water appears, and by shifting attention, the viewer discerns the sky; with another shift, a second sky emerges. Three potential images coexist, yet only one can be apprehended at any given moment.

In a second series, wave images, again abstracted into vertical lines, are extruded into three dimensions, 3D-printed, and cast in tinted resin. From afar, the surface of water materializes. Viewed more closely, however, the illusion disintegrates into fragmented verticals and the internal depth of the structure. What initially seemed continuous becomes discontinuous, revealing the extent to which the viewer’s perception actively generates coherence.

Together, these works foreground perception itself as the subject. They position vision not as passive recording but as an active negotiation between sensory input and cognitive interpretation, an idea resonant with scientific accounts of perception as a “controlled hallucination” (Seth, 2021). This essay situates Sandblom’s practice within current scientific and philosophical debates on perception and consciousness, a field marked by both rapid development and enduring questions.

Perception is not a passive reflection of the external world; rather, it is an active process in which the brain organizes and interprets sensory input to create coherent experience. Visual information is rarely received as a finished, stable image: the mind continuously integrates patterns, fills in gaps, and resolves ambiguity.  In the history of art, this understanding has informed practices that exploit visual instability and ambiguity. Works that play with figure–ground reversals, optical illusions, or contradictory perspectives demonstrate that what the viewer sees depends on interpretation as much as on sensory input. Sandblom’s work extends this exploration, inviting the viewer to become aware of the constructive nature of perception and to experience the fluidity and multiplicity inherent in visual awareness.

Contemporary theories in neuroscience further support the view of perception as a constructive process. Anil Seth describes perception as a form of “controlled hallucination,” in which the brain continuously generates predictions about the sensory world and updates these predictions based on incoming information (Seth, 2021). According to this framework, what we perceive at any moment is not a direct recording of reality, but the brain’s best guess about what is most likely, given prior experience and current input. Sandblom’s work exemplifies this principle: the interlaced images and shifting perspectives compel the viewer’s brain to reconcile competing interpretations, producing multiple, transient perceptual experiences. In doing so, the artworks render visible the predictive mechanisms of the mind, allowing viewers to observe the active role of their own cognition in constructing what they see.

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) offers a complementary perspective on perception and consciousness, proposing that conscious experience arises from the integration of information across a system (Tononi, 2008; Tononi & Koch, 2015). According to IIT, the unity of consciousness depends on the extent to which diverse elements of information are highly differentiated while simultaneously forming a coherent whole. Sandblom’s artworks illustrate this principle in perceptual terms, as multiple visual components, including the water surface, interlaced skies, and extruded vertical structures, are available as potential interpretations; yet the viewer experiences them as a unified percept at any given moment. The instability of the images and the shifting dominance of different components dramatize the brain’s integration process, highlighting how consciousness emerges from the binding of distinct signals into a singular, dynamic perceptual experience.

Global Workspace Theory (GWT) conceptualizes consciousness as the result of information competing for access to a limited global workspace, in which selected information is broadcast to multiple cognitive systems such as memory, attention, and planning (Baars, 2001). In Sandblom’s work, the viewer experiences a similar competition among perceptual interpretations. In the interlaced image series, only one visual interpretation, whether the water surface, the first sky, or the second sky, can dominate awareness at a given moment; in the three-dimensional resin series, the unified perception of water from afar gives way to the fragmented vertical structures when viewed closely. These shifts in perception mirror the selective broadcasting described in GWT, illustrating how consciousness arises from the prioritization and integration of competing information within the brain.

Jeff Hawkins’ Thousand Brains Theory proposes that intelligence and perception emerge from many parallel cortical models that independently learn and predict the structure of objects, with perception arising from their consensus (Hawkins 2022). Sandblom’s artworks can be seen to engage this process in perceptual terms, as different potential interpretations—the water surface, the interlaced skies, and the extruded vertical structures—coexist in parallel, yet only one model dominates conscious experience at a given moment. The viewer’s shifting focus activates different perceptual models, revealing the brain’s role in negotiating competing representations and forming coherent experience. In this way, the work stages the dynamics of parallel modeling, allowing viewers to observe the constructive processes that underlie perception.

Daniel Dennett’s Multiple Drafts Model challenges the notion of a single, central locus of consciousness, proposing instead that perception consists of multiple parallel “drafts” that are continuously revised and competing for cognitive dominance (Dennett, 1992). Conscious experience, in this view, emerges from the interplay of these drafts rather than from a unified inner representation. Sandblom’s artworks exemplify this principle by presenting visual stimuli that can be interpreted in multiple ways, with different interpretations arising depending on the viewer’s focus and proximity. In the interlaced images, perception alternates between waves and skies; in the three-dimensional resin pieces, the coherent image of water gives way to fragmented vertical structures up close. These perceptual shifts make the distributed, revisionary nature of consciousness perceptible, allowing the viewer to experience the multiplicity and instability inherent in perceptual construction.

Sandblom’s work continues a long artistic engagement with perceptual ambiguity and instability. Artists from M. C. Escher to Op Art practitioners such as Bridget Riley have explored visual phenomena that challenge the viewer’s perceptual assumptions, revealing the constructive nature of seeing. Unlike these precedents, which often emphasize optical trickery or visual surprise, Sandblom’s works foreground the viewer’s cognitive role in forming coherent perception. By interlacing multiple images or abstracting a single image into three-dimensional structures, the artworks transform perception into an active experience, making visible the mental processes by which sensory input is organized, integrated, and interpreted. In doing so, the work operates at the intersection of art and cognitive science, translating contemporary theories of consciousness into tangible, experiential form, and inviting the viewer to reflect on the mechanisms of perception itself.

Theories of Perception & Consciousness

Theory / Thinker	Key Idea	How Perception Works	Relevance to Sandblom’s Art
Anil Seth – Predictive Processing	The brain guesses what is out there.	Perception is a “controlled hallucination,” mixing input and prediction.	Ambiguous images force the viewer to notice how their mind fills in the picture.
Tononi – Integrated Information Theory (IIT)	Consciousness = how much information is integrated (Φ).	The richer the connections, the stronger the experience.	Works shift between whole image and fragments, echoing integration vs. breakdown.
Baars – Global Workspace Theory (GWT)	Consciousness is like a spotlight on stage.	Only one perception at a time enters awareness; others stay backstage.	Viewer focus jumps between water, sky, and pattern, like spotlight shifts.
Dennett – Multiple Drafts	No single “center” of experience.	Perception is made of competing drafts, stitched into a story.	Works reveal several possible “drafts” of what is seen, never fully resolved.
Hawkins – A Thousand Brains	Many small models build one big picture.	Columns in the brain each make predictions, then vote together.	Images fractured into lines show how many partial views can add up to one scene.

Together, Sandblom’s interlaced image series and three-dimensional resin works illuminate the constructive, dynamic nature of perception. They demonstrate how conscious experience emerges from the integration, competition, and revision of multiple potential interpretations, as described in contemporary theories of predictive processing, Integrated Information Theory, Global Workspace Theory, Hawkins’ Thousand Brains Model, and Dennett’s Multiple Drafts framework. By making these processes perceptible, the artworks shift attention from the objects depicted to the act of seeing itself, revealing perception as an active, negotiable process rather than a passive recording of reality. In doing so, Sandblom’s practice bridges art and cognitive science, providing a tangible, experiential counterpart to theoretical accounts of consciousness and offering viewers a direct encounter with the mechanisms that underlie human perception.

References

Dennett, D. C. (1992). Consciousness Explained. Back Bay Books.

Hawkins, J. (2022). A thousand brains: A new theory of intelligence. Basic Books.

Seth, A. K. (2021). Being you: A new science of consciousness. Dutton.

Tononi, G. (2004). An information integration theory of consciousness. BMC Neuroscience, 5(1), 42. https://bmcneurosci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1471-2202-5-42        

Tononi, G., & Koch, C. (2015). Consciousness: Here, there and everywhere? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1668), 20140167. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2014.0167

Baars, B. J. (2001). In the theater of consciousness: The workspace of the mind. Oxford University Press.

Baars, B. J., Franklin, S., & Ramsoy, T. Z. (2013). Global workspace dynamics: Cortical “binding and propagation” enables conscious contents. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 200. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00200/full