Heaven on Earth: A room for reflection.
Lucretirus rendered his scientific theories in epic poetry, an intellect of extraordinary vision he imagined many things that would later be proved. He was the master of the thought experiment, staging complex proofs inside his brain, his mind was his laboratory.
This piece concerns Lucretius’s theory of reflection. He developed a complex idea that preceeds our present-day knowledge of particle physics, with imaginary atoms. His theory of reflection was an extension of this, not really understanding the laws of light he believed that every reflection contains particles from the thing being reflected:
“Whatever images appear to us in mirrors, in the water, and in any bright object, their substance, since they are distinguished by a form similar to their objects, must necessarily consist in forms thrown off from those objects” On The Nature of Things Bk IV 78-106
This piece is a staging of this Lucretian concept. It consists of building a large enclosed space with a large perfectly flat floor. The floor would be flooded with an inch of water. The roof of the room would have a luminous night sky constructed above it out of a large light box with a black cover perforated with the patterns of the stars. One door to the room allows one person to enter at a time. At they walk on the flooded floor it ripples and the reflection breaks. They walk to the centre of the room and wait for the disturbed water to return to stillness, as it does it mirrors the firmament above, the reflection of the starry sky above will then enclose about their feet. By Lucretius’s reasoning this reflection at their feet contains particles of the one over their head, thus it actualizes the idea of heaven on earth.
As Benjamin stated ‘the work is the death mask of the idea’. I have carried this idea with me for many years now and realized that this project is unrealizable because it represents a place inside my own head that will be destroyed by it’s own construction. This idea is a thought experiment about a thought experiment. It is a room in our brains made real. A room where we retreat to think. A place where one can literally ‘reflect’.
Heaven on Earth: A room for reflection.
Lucretirus rendered his scientific theories in epic poetry, an intellect of extraordinary vision he imagined many things that would later be proved. He was the master of the thought experiment, staging complex proofs inside his brain, his mind was his laboratory.
This piece concerns Lucretius’s theory of reflection. He developed a complex idea that preceeds our present-day knowledge of particle physics, with imaginary atoms. His theory of reflection was an extension of this, not really understanding the laws of light he believed that every reflection contains particles from the thing being reflected:
“Whatever images appear to us in mirrors, in the water, and in any bright object, their substance, since they are distinguished by a form similar to their objects, must necessarily consist in forms thrown off from those objects” On The Nature of Things Bk IV 78-106
This piece is a staging of this Lucretian concept. It consists of building a large enclosed space with a large perfectly flat floor. The floor would be flooded with an inch of water. The roof of the room would have a luminous night sky constructed above it out of a large light box with a black cover perforated with the patterns of the stars. One door to the room allows one person to enter at a time. At they walk on the flooded floor it ripples and the reflection breaks. They walk to the centre of the room and wait for the disturbed water to return to stillness, as it does it mirrors the firmament above, the reflection of the starry sky above will then enclose about their feet. By Lucretius’s reasoning this reflection at their feet contains particles of the one over their head, thus it actualizes the idea of heaven on earth.
As Benjamin stated ‘the work is the death mask of the idea’. I have carried this idea with me for many years now and realized that this project is unrealizable because it represents a place inside my own head that will be destroyed by it’s own construction. This idea is a thought experiment about a thought experiment. It is a room in our brains made real. A room where we retreat to think. A place where one can literally ‘reflect’.