nou • men • on

NOUMENON

(noun) a “thing-in-itself” — an objective reality that will always be inaccessible to human perception.”

 – Immanuel Kant (1724 — 1804)
German philosopher

Noumenon is an experimental short film reflecting on the relation between reality and perception from a neuroscience perspective, and its parallels with the Hindu concept of maya, or cosmic illusion. Neuroscientist Anil K. Seth narrates his concept of controlled hallucination – how all perceptions are active constructions, brain-based best guesses at the nature of a world that is forever obscured behind a sensory veil. Through story and classical South Indian temple dance, Bharatanatyam, the film weaves in the Hindu philosophy of maya – the powerful force sustaining the cosmic illusion of the phenomenal world as real.