A Vast Expanse (2023)
Immersive light and sound installation at The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington
Created for my solo show at MoCA Arlington, A Vast Expanse is a site-specific immersive and interactive sound and light installation inspired by the phenomenon of an event horizon, the border between the singularity of the black hole and the surrounding space. As an environment that is utterly hostile to life, the black hole lies beyond the reach of direct human experience. This installation acts as a poetic interpretation of that unknowable experience.
Most black holes are formed after a large star is destroyed in a supernova explosion. The remnants of the star collapse but, as the surface of the star approaches the event horizon, time within the collapsing star stands still. The star is frozen in time mid-collapse, becoming a mass of matter so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape.
The visual element of the installation is deceptively simple. A single line of light emerges from all sides of the space, becoming a visual focal point that subtly shifts the viewer's experience of physical space. The soundscape of the work is generated live and partly driven by ambient and environmental noise picked up by a microphone in the space. Rather than a simple soundtrack, it is as if the sound in the environment is being transformed by the characteristics of the space itself. The combined aural and visual elements transform the viewer's physical experience of the gallery, inviting them to imagine an unknowable environment, outside of time.
Most black holes are formed after a large star is destroyed in a supernova explosion. The remnants of the star collapse but, as the surface of the star approaches the event horizon, time within the collapsing star stands still. The star is frozen in time mid-collapse, becoming a mass of matter so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape.
The visual element of the installation is deceptively simple. A single line of light emerges from all sides of the space, becoming a visual focal point that subtly shifts the viewer's experience of physical space. The soundscape of the work is generated live and partly driven by ambient and environmental noise picked up by a microphone in the space. Rather than a simple soundtrack, it is as if the sound in the environment is being transformed by the characteristics of the space itself. The combined aural and visual elements transform the viewer's physical experience of the gallery, inviting them to imagine an unknowable environment, outside of time.