Orbit
2012
Photographic glass gobo slide, gobo rotator, theatre spotlight, stand
Installation view: MOP Projects, Sydney. Photograph: Michaela Gleave
Duration: 2 minute rotation
Orbit projects a photograph of an ocean horizon through a rotating glass gobo slide, turning the image continuously around its centre. The horizon, usually a stable reference for our position in the world, tilts, inverts and returns. This simple movement unsettles the relationship between the viewer’s body and the landscape, making orientation something temporary and relative.
Presented with its theatre spotlight and stand visible, the work brings the mechanics of this illusion into the sculptural space of the gallery. The revolving image connects an everyday view of sea and sky to the planetary movements that underpin our experience of time and place. A still photograph becomes a repeating cycle, suggesting that the apparent stability of our surroundings depends on where, and how, we look.