Retinal.“Of or relating to the retina of the eye.”

RGB. Red, Green, Blue. By additively combining light from these colours we can create a broad range of the visible colours. The individual photons of the light do not change, but the way we see them does [1]. In a way, physical reality differs from our perception of it.
Another phenomenon where this happens is afterimages. Here, the eye's photoreceptors adapt to overstimulation of light and lose sensitivity. Subsequently showing white light can result in seeing a colour complementary to the one shown before [2].

In Retinal Rhythms both these phenomena are intertwined. Instead of using RGB to additively produce a colour, as is done in almost all display technologies, they are once again ripped apart. The red, green and blue colours are shown individually. However, the overstimulation-effect on our retina, and with that the resulting afterimages, remains the same.

Rhythm.“Movement or procedure with uniform or patterned recurrence of a beat, accent, or the like.”

Research suggests that the mathemical algorithm called “The Euclidean Algorithm” is able to generate almost all of the world music rhythms [3]. Here, the greatest common divisor of two numbers is used rhythmically giving the number of beats and silences. What does this tell us about human perception? Are these rhythms to our hearing as what RGB is to our sight?

Retinal Rhythms is a composition of the discussed elements; RGB, afterimages and Euclidean Rhythms, using them to shed light on human perception. This is done by projecting onto a circular screen which is inside a quadraphonic speaker setup, enabling 360 degree sound and visuals.