‘Arcades’ is a site-specific installation that emphasises the sculptural qualities of multiple pillars of light. In darkened, haze-filled rooms, the beams create an illusion of one architectural space transplanted into another. Each pillar is met by a fresnel lens, which refracts the rays, bending the beams of light hyperbolically to form the arches of gothic architecture. Through the experiential deconstruction of space and light, viewers necessarily become participants, their bodies intersecting the architectural form.
Creating a spatial suspension of disbelief, ‘Arcades’ encourages an analysis of our relationship with the metaphysical in a world increasingly governed by practical, rational and scientific principles. By confronting the viewer with the seemingly impossible phenomenon of bending light, it creates a space for contemplation and introspection, suggesting a synthesis between agnostic reason and intuitive belief.
Originally shown as a site-specific work at Buda Tower, Kortrijk, Belgium, ‘Arcades’ has most recently been exhibited at Daelim Museum of Contemporary Art as part of Troika's solo exhibition ‘Persistent Illusions’; a variation was also shown as part of ‘Limits of a Known Territory’ at NC Arte, Bogota Columbia in 2015. In 2017, ‘Arcades’ travelled to Denmark for the first time, to be exhibited as part of ‘Corridor III: Valdemar Daa’ at Viborg Kunsthal.