In A Whirl (Studies in Perceptual Glitching)  | 2018

Minnesota Street Projects, San Francisco, California

In A Whirl (Studies in Perceptual Glitching) offers an alternative viewing portal into a particularly analogue version of optical wonders. Set in contrast to the “high tech” (AR/VR) visual offerings at The Impossible Festival, this piece serves as a counterpoint to more digitally sophisticated explorations. The optics involved in this project are purely analogue in nature. The installation features a suspended distorted mirror spinning above a circular mirrored portal cut into the floor. As one looks down into the portal, one stands at the edge of a seemingly bottomless aperture and experiences a version of infinity. An added layer of wearing prismatic glasses causes the viewer to have the immersive and mind-altering sensation of being mildly disembodied as nothing is where it should be according to our optical expectations. The mirror’s sharp reflectivity suggests an alternate dimension—a rabbit hole, a portal, or a tunnel of time wherein each rotation marks the duration of this peculiar perceptual experience encouraging viewers to enact speculation and reflexive perception.