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Diffraction
II
The installation 24 x 6 took place at the Joensuu Art Museum, Joensuu,
Finland, 2005. The artwork consisted of 24 windows; each having
six subdivisions.
In each of the 24 windows I placed a sheet of sand-blasted glass.
In each piece of glass there is a small section that has been left
clear; creating an opening, or a window within a window. Each opening
was then fitted with an optical lens. The lenses have been cut and
fragmented into various patterns, all derived from a basic grid
pattern.
The patchwork of lenses enlarge and fragment the views; creating
multiple angles and varying speeds at which one experiences changing
light, the movement of clouds, cars and people in the landscape.
Although this work was not intended as any kind of homage to Cubism
it did in fact seemed to evoke a kind of hyper-real Cubism, where
you literally experienced the fragmentation and constantly shifting
perspectives. This was no longer a static metaphor for how see,
but a real-time experience, where the viewer participates in a fundamentally
different way of looking at the world.
In this exhibition the windows function as a borderland; a realm
that sits between two worlds. In this respect the glass and optical
filter functions in similar fashion as the eye does in human perception.
The eye is the link between the outside world of objects and movement,
and the interior world of thoughts and emotions.
In this project I was also interested in how our perception is not
a purely objective process, but something that is always filtered
through perception, culture, prejudices, beliefs, expectation and
experience. To a great extent our attention and focus - both literally
and figuratively - determine what we see.
The filters add another dimension to the work in that they create
the perception of two kinds of time; the so-called normal experience
of time and an expanded or stretched-out sense of time. The work
suggests that both views of the world are possible. The views don’t
contradict or exclude each other; rather they suggest that different
views can be held simultaneously.
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