The Duality of Psychological and Intrinsic Time in Artworks †

Abstract

The paper investigates the problem of the time arrow in terms of artistic creation. The statistical model of artwork signal processing is established in order to identify a duality relation between psychological and intrinsic time. The intrinsic time is linked to the time operator of wavelets, and the psychological one is metaphorically related to the spatial domain of an artwork. The increase of irreducible randomness along the timeline is formulated by the second law of thermodynamics. The dual statement concerns an increase in statistical complexity, which is the definition of self-organization. In that manner, two arrows of time which are opposed and dual to each other are recognized. The authors have indicated a link to the theory of musical forms, the originality issue, and the perspective problem. Some repercussions for art theory, neuroaesthetics, and psychophysics have also been implied.