The Abysses of the Scorching Sun

In her new kinetic light installation ‘The Abysses of the Scorching Sun’ Nicky Assmann refers to the ideas of the earth and the sun as a perpetuum mobile, the passage of time, the finite and the infinite, the global warming and changing climate of our planet, how we humans are part of this earthly existence, and how accidental and ephemeral our existence is when compared to the cosmos. In this creation the artist was inspired by the early work of kinetic light art pioneer Thomas Wilfred.

The installation is a light machine which is pointed towards the sun and follows its trajectory by using a sun tracer. Its telescope traces the path of light and moves slowly, almost invisibly, throughout the day. The machine is based on the concept of a sun dial, but instead of indicating time, it projects light back to the sun. The light travels through several reflective and diffractive elements before projecting its rays onto the white walls of the space. The visuals move throughout the space as the installation follows the sun and is accompanied by a score composed of perpetual drones.

The different cycles lead to an ever changing prismatic colored visual output, that, together with the moving wheels and cones, is reminiscent of the eye of a storm. It is the calm before the havoc, the moment prior to reaching a state of entropy.