Inner, Outer, Other  

EVI Lichtungen, Hildesheim, Germany, 2020

Inner, Outer, Other is a site-specific installation that transforms the central atrium of the Sparkasse into an otherworldly experience. The work uses light, sound, mirror, water and air to disrupt our reading of space and time and to subvert our perception of what is ‘real’. The installation acts as a vessel for self-reflection, repose and meditation. It invites you to step forward, take time and be fully immersed in the surreal environment.

The title’s three words, ‘Inner’, ‘Outer’ and ‘Other’ are unique elements that exist in flux and mediation with each other. They are a guide, open entry points for you to interpret your experience of the work. As for example, ‘Inner’, could refer to the sense ‘inner-time’ or ‘being’. ‘Outer’, being of the contrary, a projection of ‘self’ and or ‘outer space’. And ‘Other’, refers to the unknown, in this instance a place experienced between utopia and dystopia. Here lies the installation. In deference to these cues, the semiotics of the elements (light, water, sound) and primal shapes within the installation are abstract suggestions for one’s imagination, evoking notions of time, birth, life’s journey and end, all aimed to spark an event or memory.

The artwork is the experience, placing the body at the centre of an environment that is ever-evolving. At the centre of the atrium, a circular disc of bright white light emerges. The light is enveloped by a shallow plane of black water that reaches the extents of the room. The water creates a divide between reality and the unknown by reflecting the interior and doubling the space. The audience occupies this plane, free to walk on the water’s surface, disrupting its appearance.

Hovering above, a mirrored sphere of equal diameter to the light beneath, roams the space like a pendulum. The volume of air in the room is alive, physically pushing the sphere through space. The mirrored sphere appears to be born from the light, transitioning between mirrored worlds. As it passes over the light, its illusionary warped surface reflects and refracts the light, a kind of panoptical eye that reveals the modern architecture, ubiquitous of the built systems we have created.

In addition to the natural amplification of one’s movement on the water’s surface, amplified sound tuned to the resonance of the room further subverts the sphere’s materiality, movement and presence. Sound migrates in the room along with one’s physical presence in the space.

Specification

Dimensions: 20m x 18m x 13m
Media: 5m⌀ mylar inflatable, tensile cabling, 3.5kw LED, transmission screen, wood, rubber, 540sqm water, 12.1 surround sound 

Credits

Commissioning body: EVI Lichtungen 2020
Patron: Sparkasse, Germany 
Curators: Alice Hinrichs, Klaus Wilheim 
Photography: Sebastian Kite