Videos of Selected Works
Below are videos of three representative spatiotemporal installations.
A Vast Expanse
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 public museum), 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 using software designed by the artist 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.
Immersive light and sound installation at The Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington.
Created for my solo show at MoCA Arlington (a public museum), 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 using software designed by the artist 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.
in a single drop
in a single drop... (2015)
Immersive installation with dripping water, audio, light, and mixed media.
in a single drop... is a time-based, sound and light sculptural installation that offers a visual and sonic mediation on impermanence and change. While aspects of the visual elements are inspired by the ritual of water offering common in Tibetan shrines, the religious aspects of the practice are not featured. But the idea of inviting presence and quietude by heightening awareness of self and space are very much at the heart of this installation. The sound of water dripping slowly into seven bowls is amplified and processed live to create a sonic memory of the real sounds, one that will at time seem present, and other distant and distorted.
Immersive installation with dripping water, audio, light, and mixed media.
in a single drop... is a time-based, sound and light sculptural installation that offers a visual and sonic mediation on impermanence and change. While aspects of the visual elements are inspired by the ritual of water offering common in Tibetan shrines, the religious aspects of the practice are not featured. But the idea of inviting presence and quietude by heightening awareness of self and space are very much at the heart of this installation. The sound of water dripping slowly into seven bowls is amplified and processed live to create a sonic memory of the real sounds, one that will at time seem present, and other distant and distorted.
three mantras
Three Mantras (2019)
Time-based installation using magnets, motors, magnetic pigment, needles, mixed media
A mantra is a word or sound or action that is repeated to help calm the mind and aid in concentration when meditating. This set of works is a meditation on impermanence. It invites the viewer to sit with the action of the slow rotation that, while repetitive, is at the same time causing continual change. Like any act of contemplation, more details emerge the longer one holds one's attention.
The installation consists of three platforms, each housing a similar mechanism hidden underneath. Each mechanism consists of a motor that spins a magnet at a very slow rate. The magnet drags around magnetized pigment through ordinary, non-magnetized pigment sitting on top of the platform. With each rotation the pigments mix and change while creating the seemingly uniform shape of a circle.
Time-based installation using magnets, motors, magnetic pigment, needles, mixed media
A mantra is a word or sound or action that is repeated to help calm the mind and aid in concentration when meditating. This set of works is a meditation on impermanence. It invites the viewer to sit with the action of the slow rotation that, while repetitive, is at the same time causing continual change. Like any act of contemplation, more details emerge the longer one holds one's attention.
The installation consists of three platforms, each housing a similar mechanism hidden underneath. Each mechanism consists of a motor that spins a magnet at a very slow rate. The magnet drags around magnetized pigment through ordinary, non-magnetized pigment sitting on top of the platform. With each rotation the pigments mix and change while creating the seemingly uniform shape of a circle.