Observatory: magnetic fluid

2014-2016

sound-kinetic diorama
exterior: acrylic object in crystalloid like form; interior: relief (three-dimensional cast), turntable, light, sound
sound: Scanner – Robin Rimbaud
dim: 110 x 60 x 60 cm
Photo by: Damjan Švarc

A miniature silver landscape in motion that can be viewed through the observation perforation in the surface of a cristal-like object is based on the photographs of magnetic fluids that served as the basis for digital model development and the resulting 3D printed reliefs. In the act of viewing the framed panorama in the static position, the viewer loses a sense of scale; the tiny spiked structures of the kinetic surface take on the appearance of the surface topography of some distant planet. Dematerialized by its own reflections, the artificial landscape blurs the distinction between the real and the virtual. Simulacra of the natural metaphorically mediate the idea of nature as a projection, one that mirrors our own projections and perceptions.

(Collaboration: prof. Darko Makovec, Institut Jožef Stefan, Ljubljana)