The glass spheres in the installation are each hand-blown and sandblasted on one side. These minimal objects display subtle irregularities and vary in size, shape and volume. Their semi-opaque sides face the projector and absorb the photographic images, which are simultaneously refracted through the rest of the translucent forms.
The spheres hang from fine threads of fishing wire, which allow them to turn and shift slightly with the changing air currents. Each tiny adjustment to the constellation alters relationships between the glass forms and the projected images and sounds. The indeterminate position of each sphere continuously re-orients the relationship between the viewer and the work. The small adjustments alter the angles at which the projected images meet the glass, and the ways in which the light is reflected and refracted throughout the installation.
The projections wrap around the curved surfaces, partially distorting the images and accentuating the one-point perspective of the forest scenes. Enhanced by these transformations, the images appear to be embodied within the three-dimensional glass forms.
In moving around and looking into the glass objects, the viewer is able to explore the scenes depicted from differing perspectives. As the spatial relationships between viewer and objects change new details seem to emerge, defying the flatness of the photographic image and the rigidity of the glass.
These visual details are multiplied as reflections in and around the arrangement of glass spheres. Different image fragments become imposed on one another, creating a secondary network of associations and connections.
The plasticity of the installation echoes both the temporal instantiation of memory patterns within the synapses in the brain, and the ephemeral and fleeting nature of our memories.
The spheres hang from fine threads of fishing wire, which allow them to turn and shift slightly with the changing air currents. Each tiny adjustment to the constellation alters relationships between the glass forms and the projected images and sounds. The indeterminate position of each sphere continuously re-orients the relationship between the viewer and the work. The small adjustments alter the angles at which the projected images meet the glass, and the ways in which the light is reflected and refracted throughout the installation.
The projections wrap around the curved surfaces, partially distorting the images and accentuating the one-point perspective of the forest scenes. Enhanced by these transformations, the images appear to be embodied within the three-dimensional glass forms.
In moving around and looking into the glass objects, the viewer is able to explore the scenes depicted from differing perspectives. As the spatial relationships between viewer and objects change new details seem to emerge, defying the flatness of the photographic image and the rigidity of the glass.
These visual details are multiplied as reflections in and around the arrangement of glass spheres. Different image fragments become imposed on one another, creating a secondary network of associations and connections.
The plasticity of the installation echoes both the temporal instantiation of memory patterns within the synapses in the brain, and the ephemeral and fleeting nature of our memories.
Pattern Completion (Installation view). Glass by James Lethbridge