1999

laser, mirror, slow-turning motor

Exhibited in ‘Speed of LIght, Speed of Sound’ at the Nederlands Design Institute, 1996, Acquired by the Flemish Community in 1999

A small, constantly rotating mirror, deflects a laser beam dot around the walls, floor and ceiling of the room, as if marking an invisible plane which intersects the architectural space. Although we know that it is travelling at a constant, its movement seems to gradually slow or quicken depending on the relative distance from its source. When ascending the wall nearest the Iaser mechanism. the point of light seems to creep slowly up its surface, its speed apparently increasing when it approaches the far side of the room, as it covers a greater space in the same period of time. The work takes two minutes to complete one cycle.