Sliptscape

The title of this piece, Splitscape, is based on the fictitious meaning that comes from the combination of two English words: Split (cut, fissure; composition of an element with two parts) + Scape (Middle English –ship: state or condition of being; relationship between two elements; Dutch –skap; –shape, cut, shape). Thus, Splitscape proposes a certain way of observing the features of a territory that can be seen in two different ways from one place. There is a suggestion of a splitted landscape, as in a divided or double landscape, or rather a point of view with a double perspective on the same scenery. This installation consists of a landscape drawing made upon the mirror by scratching its surface and removing the thin silver layer. A spotlight, casting a red ellipse, is placed near the mirror producing two images as described below. The image projected on the left is the shadow of the silver remains (the red-light beam passes through the transparent glass). The image projected on the right is caused by the deflection of the red-light beam, which is repelled by the residual portions of silver on the surface. As a result of this splitting of the light beam, both images function as the positive and the negative of the drawing on the mirror. The mirror-screen is no longer a receptacle of images, nor is a shield that repels images, but a filter that also produces images. The cut, the interruption, often appear in my work as a way of relating two elements, two situations, or two different moments in time, as if it could offer the possibility to split and suspend our convictions (as well as time itself) in order to look for layered meanings. Splitscape depicts two points of view upon a landscape, in order to find a latent meaning waiting to be revealed, or rather a fictional meaning that offers a utopian or constructed alternative about a given experience.