It was installed close to the ceiling, above the average height of a person. A cow bone candle was supported by a hand-crafted wooden bracket. The burning candle spread a subtle but visceral smell in the air. A concave mirror was placed above the bracket, distorting the flame inside the marrow. The phenomenon could only be discovered from certain angles, which differs between people depending on their heights. The bright shimmering imagery contained in the round mirror, which was too bright to be stared at for long, created an illusion of the sun.

A Sun

In the everyday world, phenomenon like light and air are siteless. They can not be confined to a particular site. They are immense, permeating every corner. 

  
Manifesting the sitelessness of these phenomena, I created these apertures on wheels. They are not fixed to any individual site, suggesting the fluid existence of light and air. The handmade panels framed within the devices abstracted the sur- rounding, while the air traps functioned as tiny lenses that framed the surroundings within, whereby the presence of the transparent agencies came to fore. 

  
The mobile devices are media for experiential exchanges activated by participant interventions. The physical interactions between the device and the viewer, the viewers and each other are choreographic and performative. During the exploratory journey comes realization. 

Sitelessness (Volume of Transparency #2)

A short corridor (_About Dust #5_) connects the main exhibition hall to darkness in the back. Covered by oak flooring, several significant crevices can be seen in the floor of the passageway. Within these gaps are canes of glass embedded with dust.

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Lit from the sides, motes suspended inside the transparency are sparkling. Flowing between the slits are swarms of stars.

The Slit (About Dust #5)

In an inconspicuous corner sits a blob of glass (_About Dust #6_). A glimmer of light from top shines through the transparent material, illuminating the veil of dust captured inside.

Humbly, I acknowledge the immense phenomena of dust by bringing them back to their habitat. I surrender to their occupation.

The Corner (About Dust #6)

Being another attempt in the evolving series _About Dust_, this work refers to star charts in astrology. The slides in use are generated from photograms of plain sheet glass that sat in my studio where dust accumulated on them. Enlarged by the lamp projector, dust on glass slides becomes sparkles in the panoramas of darkness.

The piece was housed in the transit room of the observatory. The room once played an important role in timekeeping. The roof of this part of the architecture can be opened. Under the night sky, two designated telescopes were used for tracking the movement of the stars.

Dust Charts (About Dust #8)

The piece is devised like a slice from an orb. It is suspended in a corner, above the viewers’ average height. At the bottom of the slice opens an aperture. Peeking through the aperture, in the darkness contained within, one sees infinite sparkles expand beyond the physical restriction of the instrument.

The sparkling infinity is the result of an optic illusion. Within the instrument, on the left is a piece of black glass embedded with dust. The specks are illuminated when the glass is lit from the side. On the right and above are black mirrors reflecting the shine from the left.

Infinity Slice (About Dust #13)

The longstanding hypothesis for the origin of the universe is that it began with an explosion where light is an essential force that bonds and forms stars. This kinetic glass sculpture is informed and inspired by this research.

Experimenting with the Rupert’s Drop, a well-known physic phenomenon in glassmaking, I see the similarity between the disintegration of a glass droplet and the explosion of the universe. Through glass-blowing processes, I captured the aftermath of the disintegration inside an orb which then became a lens. A slowly spinning light creates a projection through the orb. The irregular texture of the glass results in constantly changing cosmic imagery, which is carried by the blown glass dome and the resulting caustic reflections. The mechanism of the system is revealed (if one looks close enough) by the convex mirror underneath.

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Daiqing Zhang