Curtain, 2013, 400 x 400 cm, Forex reflectors, textile, metal
Drapery, simply put, forms a boundary between a two-dimensional and three-dimensional object. The curtain is a statue of the space in between, a statue covering the space, but also creating or referring to other spaces. It would seem that previously it was a rather dynamic entity, that it possessed the identity of a revolutionary flag, the muleta of a bullfighter or Superman’s cape. Its function was to hang and elastically respond to the environment around it, to hide secrets, to stir the senses.
Curtain (detail), 2013, 400 x 400 cm, Forex reflectors, textile, metal, detail.
However, this drapery has become stiff and heavy, and because it has the aspect of a two-dimensional nature (i.e., it is not supported by the third dimension), it has developed cracks. Only the gaps between its cracks indicate its original character. The drapery has taken on the design of the bottom of a dry riverbed. The facets of the cracks break through the surface into a “cubist space”. The sight of the observer is refracted just like a radar beam is deflected from the surface of a machine with “stealth” technology. The perception of the shape of the object is less clear and therefore more enigmatic.
Curtain (detail), 2013, 400 x 400 cm, Forex reflectors, textile, metal, detail
Other dimensions are hidden in the surface of facets, in their optics. Cracks are made of reflective glass panes, which create for the viewer an illusion not only of depth of surface, but also of opalescence manifested in the unexpected reflections and bending of light rays, or illusions and perplexing effects. Infinite facets of the facets delimited by random curves contribute to the blurring of the image and the confusion of the observer. Each micro-facet is a kind of lens, turning the micro-space upside down. Here I would like to abuse a term from quantum mechanics, “quantum foam”, which describes the turbulence of subatomic space-time.1/ For imaginative reasons I am interested in a similar phenomenon associated with these micro-facets, which I call “optical foam”. This is a sort of chaotic optical proliferation on the surface of the curtain forming a thin film, stimulating the illusive image of other dimensions in my imagination.
1/ Quantum foam is a concept in quantum mechanics devised by American physicist John Wheeler in 1955. It describes the turbulence of subatomic space-time on the order of the Planck length, which contradicts Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
Curtain, 2013, 400 x 400 cm, Forex reflectors, textile, metal, Rudolfinum exhibition.
Curtain, 2013, 400 x 400 cm, Forex reflectors, textile, metal
