How is the representation of a space shaped by different perceptions?

Representation is a complex process where everything can be manipulated, either intentionally or

unintentionally. There is usually certain politics behind it.
Every space is perceived differently by people based on their general views on life, their memories
connected to the space and the collective opinion of that space. Representation of Everything or
anything can change or build new perspectives. This politics of representation is hidden deep into
portrayal of selective information, which can be either positive, negative, or even neutral. mostly
People mould their ideologies according to the representations of the subject rather than
experiencing it first hand.

In This essay, we argue that the perception of people is manipulated through representations. We
have designed a bioscope which engulfs a physical model of a tourist destination, “Dal Lake” in
Kashmir. The beautiful landscape and vast skies can be seen through the peep holes. The peep holes
are positioned at three surfaces. with one of the peep holes, we have attached half a shikara, such
that the viewer sees the scenery through the boat making it almost look realistic. The placement of
these peep holes is our way of manipulating their perspective of viewing the scenery. Before
peeping into the bioscope, the viewer will not be able to see what is inside and therefore will remain
clueless or more of curious. This will keep the viewer’s perception towards whatever is inside the
bioscope, unbiased. Once the viewers look through the peep hole, they will start forming ideas
about the scenery. When they look through the shikara, they will see the scenery through the
perspective of someone who is inside the shikara. Our way of representing Dal lake manipulates the
way others see this place too.

The person is away from everybody, they can not see anything other than the things that are inside
the box, they hear the sounds of nature, they can smell the earth, their senses are changed. The
person does not have any option, other than to pause and try to understand their view. The first
thing they see is the shikara boat, slowly and swiftly floating on the water. the movements of the
boat are the same as they would be of a real boat in a big water body. The light inside the bioscope
is filtered. You can describe the feel of this light as cold and dull. Yet one can see everything as it is
distributed evenly throughout the box. Lighting itself in the bioscope is so much different than what
it is outside the box. After that you will notice how small branches of plants are used to represent a
whole big tree in the model, isn’t it fascinating?. The waves in the water give magical feels with the
added glitter. Then your eyes move to the front, which may look like just an empty sky but when it is
mixed with the smell of mud, the greenery and the heavenly music of birds and winds, the whole
scene suddenly turns majestic and you do not want to get out of the shikara. It has the power to
make you loose your worries. You either want to be part of this model or you want this model to be
a part of your life.

Everyone have their own interpretation of the world around them. For example, seasons. People
seem to have a lot of ideas about the weather. Some people like winters, some like summers. People
who like winters would connect it to snow angels, hot beverages and Christmas. They might relate it
to some sweet childhood memories or they just cannot bear hot weather. On the other side, for
some people, winters bring discomfort, heavy clothes and storms. Whatever the reason is, these
ideas hold meaning to them and give them comfort. We want to give people another chance to build
their perception about a space like dal like, whether they have their past related to that place or not
whether their ideas are positive or negative. We want people to go beyond that by also including our
hidden building process of the model. How everything is placed itself has a deep meaning.