Stellar Spectra
Installation (2020)
Curtain, 3 x 14 m
2 channel HD video, 10 minutes
The installation Stellar Spectra includes a dual screen video installation and a large photographic curtain. The work takes its point of departure in the British astronomer Margaret Huggins’ work with astro-photography and spectroscopy. Spectroscopy is a photographic method which has been used since the end of the 1800s to understand the chemical composition, the motion of, and the distances among celestial bodies. Huggins was a pioneer in the field; she designed cameras for it and conducted spectroscopic experiments.
In Stellar Spectra astrophysical photography is used as a prism to reflect on the mechanisms that make things visible or invisible, remembered or forgotten. The primary colors of the spectra (red, blue, yellow, green) and the geometrical forms (circle, triangle, rectangle, square) make up the basic elements of the visual language.
The two video channels are designed to have slightly different durations, creating infinite variations of visual overlaps and juxtapositions between the two sides.