Brain Operations 2009

Directed by Ken Jacobs

An homage to Op-Art, Brain Operations was inspired by an optical illusion produced by checkered tiles on the artist's bathroom floor. "When editing 16mm film, I had reached for a strand and closed my hand on nothing," Jacobs explains. "I had visually coupled similar-appearing frames, popping them forward in space. It was a life-changing moment...I'm staring down and the tiles come up almost to my nose." In this work, he opts for squares and diamonds—"tilted squares"—which produce the same chimera of depth, at the convergence of sightlines.