August 9 - September 2, 2017

Michaelson Britt – Eclipse

Visual Voice Gallery is delighted to present the interactive installation "Eclipse" by Montreal artist Michaelson Britt.

In size and energy, the moon compares to the sun like a dewdrop on a dry blade of grass crouched beneath a burning mesquite tree. The force of the universe is a stroke of lightning which illuminates the sprawling boughs, a moment earlier. Yet from our vantage point, a mite among the grass, the bodies of the sun and moon retain a deception of equal size, and a moment is five billion years. The shadow of a single dewdrop swaying in cosmic alignment obscures the entire inferno overhead.

The solar eclipse is a moment of celestial splendor, but also an opportunity to ponder our own imbalances; a starlit sunless sky in mid-afternoon who inquires what light we shall find when the blessings we take for granted, the axioms that fuel us, eventually vanish.

This installation seeks to re-inspire the audience with a childlike sense of awe, at the enormity of celestial bodies and their paths. Confronting the audience, two magnified horizons of the Sun and Moon loom overhead, facing each other. Looking upwards, each fills the field of view, inviting perusal of surface detail, yet each represents only a sliver of the full sphere. The two horizons slowly drift, approaching and slipping away, tantalizing, but never quite commencing their eclipse.

Reacting to the audience, each surface rises and flows; the viewer may create swirling sunspots with the stroke of a hand, or extrude and illuminate the peaks and craters of the lunar surface.

The solar eclipse on Aug 21st 2017 is first total eclipse visible in North America since 1979. This cosmic incident which might have provoked fear in ancient people, today inspires exuberance and anticipation. This interactive video installation is based on the motifs of ancient awe and modern exploration.