The telescopic eye: aqua optica

The Telescopic Eye: Aqua Optica was an installation work which explores concepts and philosophies related to instrumental, lens based observations of heavens as experienced when seeing through a telescope. In particular it considers how the eye of the observer and the lens of the telescope must act in unison to extend both the perception and conception of that which is remote and beyond direct naked eye sensing - an act of transcendence. A series of projected images (the video) of celestial objects are observed by the viewer through a large spherical aquatic lens which is mounted on a large wooden tripod. These images slowly dissolve and morph into each other. The sequence in which these images are presented is based on approximate chronological order in which these celestial objects were historically observed through the telescope – such as the local bodies of our the solar system starting with the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn (as first observed by Galileo in 1610) and eventually extending out to distant nebula, star clusters and galaxies. For the Transduction exhibition the Telescopic Eye: Aqua Optica was installed outside in a small quadrangle next to the Tech Bar and as the night drew darker it was able to also embody the lighting and other visual elements from the surrounding buildings and streets. The Aqua Optica system often encompasses such local lighting and images as a added layer to the video projection work. In this case (at night and outside at Federation Square) the extent of the layering was very successful and increased dramatically as the night became darker. This multi layering of images invokes (for the viewer) a connection between the immediate environment of the Federation square and cityscape with the vastly distant images of the cosmos. For me such a multilayered imaging represents how scientific instruments of observation can generate a complex and augmented visualisation of reality, one which has historically come to re-define our conception of the cosmos and our place in it both spatially and temporally