Apparition, installation view.
Apparition, installation view, Duratrans, glass, acrylic, aluminum, wood, micro-computer, sensor, 2019.

Apparition

Her image flickers in and out like a broken neon sign. Humming and clipping and popping, she is only observable from a distance. The title, Apparition, is a reference to seeing and discovering something remarkable or startling.

As Moholy-Nagy said, “artists used to be dependent on the tools of perspective drawing, but with the advent of the camera they had to learn to see again.” The title, Apparition, is a reference to “seeing” and discovering something remarkable or startling.

This installation is inspired and a response to the main building of the University and the events that have transpired here. The centerpiece of the installation is a 1:1 scale portrait of a figure in the room, a ghostly apparition. As the observer approaches the image, they are detected by a motion sensor and the image virtually disappears. When the observer retreats the image of the ghost will return. This makes it impossible to see the ghost up close.

Footnotes

Apparition was shown for the first time as part of the exhibition Republic of Spirits – Republik der Geister!, the Bauhaus 100 year jubilee curated and organized by the Bauhaus University. Apparition was displayed in room 110, one of the original classrooms in the Bauhaus University Hauptgebaude (main building). The exhibition took place on April 12th 2019, the significance of the specific date was that April 12th was the day in 1919 that Walter Gropius began his work as the new, first director of an art institute founded only a few days prior in Weimar.
Additional information on this project is available on the Bauhaus University Website: https://www.uni-weimar.de/en/university/profile/experimentbauhaus/projekt/apparition/
Apparition, installation view.
Apparition, interaction illustration.
Apparition / Republic of Spirits – Republik der Geister!, Bauhaus 100 year jubilee exhibition invitation, 2019.