Fractal

Artist: Patrick Girdler (Australia)

Fractal is a light sculpture with mirror-like skin and a crystalline form that reimagines the relationship between the audience and the urban environment, presenting it in two ways: the concave and the convex. 

Artist Patrick Girdler uses the work to explore concepts of duality: inward and outward; reflection and refraction; introspective, examining what is within, and ‘extrospective’, seeing what is outside yourself.

Fractal is simultaneously about the individual and the city and examines the complex relationship between the two. Through reflection and ‘re-presentation’ it asks the audience to consider this relationship in new and unfamiliar ways.

The convex, or external, side of the sculpture orientates itself towards the built environment. It captures views of the city and reframes them. As the city shines with light the work acts as a mirror, distorting and re-presenting the familiar context.

The concave, or internal, side orientates itself towards and around the individual, providing a fragmented and altered view that creates an unexpected self-image.

Fractal is illuminated from within. Lights run internally along the work’s triangulated structure. As they shine they refract through the mirror-like skin, breaking the reflection and leading the viewer's eye. Using a series of two-way mirrors, the lights and skin work in unison to create an infinity mirror effect.

Lights within the sculpture trigger independently and pulse at varying tempos. Mimicking the city, this creates a pattern that is seemingly chaotic and yet ordered. Colours similarly ebb and flow through a gradient of hues and are indicative of the changing urban context. 

Country represented by installation: Australia