Distance: the Mirror-Window, or An Exploration of Process and Intent in Art Through Interactive Digital Media
Imagine a darkened gallery, with one light placed above a large computer monitor depicting a series of moving images and still frames, with sound to accompany the visual stimuli. As you approach the monitor to gain a closer look, you begin to notice a new image taking shape in the already busily rendering monitor, and slowly recognize it as your reflection, abstracted down to a matrix of data points, a rough, imprecise portrait, an image in a tiny pixelated mirror blown up and softened until it is barely recognizable. The real new image is shining through your reflection: words upon words, images upon images, appearing and disappearing like dapples of sunlight in a shadowed woodland glade as leaves and branches overhead direct the light in ever-changing patterns. These are the words of the artist, the rough sketches and concept work that made the images on the screen into the form you now see, usurping the gallery space usually reserved for only the final stage in a long and arduous process, and revealed by you, who approached the screen only to see more clearly the visions it contained. By your very curiosity, you have shown yourself more than you may initially have expected to see—the soul of the artist, revealed through your own image.
