Knowing the effect of association, it is also interesting to consider objects in isolation from their surroundings: how they would seem without their qualities highlighted through comparison. Once the surrounding elements are removed we can rely only on our senses and the comparison and associations within our memory. Ian Simpson²⁶ suggests that using a linear perspective provides a sense of fixed truth, a set of rules to follow and consequently interferes with our understanding and imagination. Compositions without fixed viewpoints thus contain more ways of interpreting and looking at them. Moreover, leaving space within an image completely undefined creates a visually neutral meta-dimension, a metaphorical “whitespace”.

The inclination to look for connections makes our perception particularly vulnerable to suggestion, causing us to miss some clues or misinterpret others. It is also our ability to understand space that allows us to overlook and discard any inconsistencies between images and reality. Our mind can easily “correct” perspective and form connections where we think they should be. The space can thus be perceived differently from the reality, creating a conflict between the senses and actual situation. The results can vary from feelings of amazement to confusion and unease, as can be experienced in the tilted rooms in the Jewish Museum in Berlin designed by Daniel Libeskind or the infinite spaces by Yayoi Kusama with multiple mirrors reflecting off on each other, creating illusions of places that do not exist.