CONJUNCTIONS: A Web Exclusive
Imaginary), 1990
Gary Hill
Installation Stills
Two-channel video/sound installation
Two modified video monitors, two projection lenses, one two-channel synchronizer, aluminum cylinder, motor, one quad panner, two stereo amplifiers, four speakers, two laserdisc players and two laserdiscs
Beacon (Two Versions of the Imaginary) centers around the difference between seeing an image and being fascinated by an image, using a transcription of a text by Maurice Blanchot. The work consists of an aluminum cylinder turning slowly on its axis. Light is projected from its extremities onto the four walls of the room. Initially, it seems as though the two beams of light touch on human figures somewhere in the blackness, the way a lighthouse's lamp occasionally catches the top of a dune with its powerful, rotating beam. But the light turns out to be both light-source and image at the same time. The light beams project the images onto the walls, can hold them and move them over the walls; the images continually change their shape. Only when the cylinder projects perpendicularly onto the opposite walls do the images have a rectangular form; otherwise, an extensive collection of variations of trapezium forms is the result. It is never possible to see two images at once, because the light coming from the ends of the cylinder is aimed in opposite directions.
Space Requirement: 27 x 40 feet plus space for light locks
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