Speed of Light
1999
laser, mirror, slow-turning motor
Exhibited in ‘Speed of LIght, Speed of Sound’ at the Nederlands Design Institute, 1996,
Purchased by the Flemish Community in 1999
Using a small, constantly rotating mirror, a deflected laser beam dot moves around the walls, floor and ceiling of the room, as if marking an invisible plane which intersects the architectural space. What is so disconcerting about the movement of this point of light is that although we know that it is travelling at a constant, its movement seems to gradually slow or quicken depending on the relative distance from its source. When ascending the wall nearest the Iaser mecnanism. the point of light seems to creep slowly up its surface, its speed increasing as it approaches the far side of the room, as it covers a greater space in the same period of time. The work takes two minutes to complete one cycle.