Overview
What this research program is and why it exists. The frame the rest of the work hangs on.
research / vela
Vela research
A contemplative platform for fine-art figurative work. Research probes desire dimensions, compositional features, temporal dynamics, and individual differences — with a deliberately rigorous bibliography and preregistered protocols.
Why this matters
The portable claim — what this research lets you understand outside the surface domain.
On its surface, Vela's research is figurative-art response. Underneath, it is an instrument: how does desire — move-toward — separate from preference (like)? How do compositional features mediate response? How stable are individual differences? The methods generalize. They speak to consumer-behavior research, aesthetic measurement methodology, taste calibration in any high-volume domain, and the design of adaptive measurement instruments well outside HR. The corpus is fine art; the questions are general.
Read first
The general-audience explainer is the entry point. Everything below is the drill-down.
Public introduction (cross-thread)
General audienceGeneral-audience entry point into the Vela research program.
Read →Drill-down — full research surface
Seven-slot baseline. Forthcoming slots shown openly.
Methodology
How the work is done — instruments, protocols, the standards each report inherits.
Reports
The actual research findings — phased results, research-question briefs, applied analyses.
RQ1 — Desire vs. preference
rq-programWhat separates desire (move-toward) from preference (like) in figurative response.
RQ2 — Compositional features
rq-programWhich compositional features mediate response, and how do they interact.
RQ3 — Temporal dynamics
rq-programHow desire moves over a session and across sessions.
RQ4 — Individual differences
rq-programWhich dimensions of variance separate participants and how stable they are.
Literature review (cross-thread)
rq-programField positioning across the desire / aesthetic / measurement literature.
Desire Index — Vol. 1 analysis
rq-programFirst-volume analysis of the desire-index instrument.
Christianity, sex, and shame — literature review
christianity-sex-shameLiterature review for the Christianity / sex / shame thread.
The Christianity sex hangup
christianity-sex-shameA research note synthesizing the historical case.
Christianity — reinterpretation pattern
christianity-sex-shameHow the tradition reads itself across centuries.
Augustine across his works
christianity-sex-shameAn across-the-corpus reading of Augustine on the body, sex, and shame.
Text-aesthetic literature review
text-aestheticLiterature review for the text-aesthetic thread.
Boudoir Studios Program — research proposal
boudoir-studiosProgram proposal for the Boudoir Studios research initiative.
Boudoir Studios Program — literature review
boudoir-studiosBoudoir Studios Program — paper outlines
boudoir-studiosBoudoir Studios Program — methodology
boudoir-studiosWarhol — methods
artist-studiesMethodological notes for the Warhol artist study.
Klimt — methods
artist-studiesSchiele — methods
artist-studiesSargent — methods
artist-studiesEmotion corpus expansion (2026-04)
Notes on the emotion-corpus expansion plan.
Museum diversity of beauty — research questions
museum-diversityBootstrap of the thread. Three sub-questions: (a) museum-vs-museum corpus differences, (b) museum vs. its primary serving location, (c) temporal change using artwork creation dates. Analysis of (a) is queued at ASN-981.
Diversity of beauty across museum collections
forthcomingCross-museum comparison of how cultural and physical diversity of beauty is represented. Three sub-questions: (a) museum-vs-museum corpus differences, (b) museum vs. its primary audience location, (c) how representation has shifted over time using artwork dates. Forthcoming write-up; questions doc is the live entry above.
Audience tiers
The same headline research surfaced four ways: peer-review, engineering, general audience, product.
Public introduction (cross-thread)
General audienceGeneral-audience entry point into the Vela research program.
Christianity, sex, and shame — public introduction
christianity-sex-shameGeneral audienceText-aesthetic — public introduction
text-aestheticGeneral audiencePeer-review framing
Peer-review framing · forthcomingHeadline findings positioned for academic peer review.
Engineering critique
Engineering critique · forthcomingArchitecture and instrument design from an engineering reviewer's lens.
Product implications
Product implications · forthcomingWhat the research tells us to build next.
Bibliography
Field positioning — formal references and literature maps grounding the research threads.
Literature map (cross-thread)
Map of the field across the major Vela research threads.
Bibliography — BibTeX (cross-thread)
Master bibliography in BibTeX form.
Christianity, sex, and shame — literature map
christianity-sex-shameChristianity, sex, and shame — BibTeX
christianity-sex-shameText-aesthetic literature map
text-aestheticText-aesthetic BibTeX
text-aestheticMuseum diversity-of-beauty — literature map
forthcomingForthcoming — field positioning for the diversity-of-beauty thread.
Preregistrations & protocols
Studies and intervention protocols filed before execution.
Pipeline
What is running, what is queued, what is forthcoming.
Thesis readiness
Where the research program sits relative to thesis-grade readiness.
Proposed studies
Studies queued for design and execution.
Downstream research strategy (2026-04-24)
How the research program connects to recruitment and publication.
Pipeline status
Hand-curated snapshot of running / queued / blocked / recently completed / coming soon across the Vela research program.