Solar engraving — analog recording mechanism based on the harmonograph concept. Wind-driven arms guide a magnifying glass circulating above objects, creating a record in the medium through concentrated solar radiation.
BASIC INFORMATION
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION
CONTEXT AND ORIGIN
ARTWORK CONCEPT
EXHIBITIONS
CONNECTIONS
Series
Inter Solaris
ID
2016-IS-IMS-01
Date of origin
6.12.2016
Technique
Solar engraving
Dimensions
1500 × 1500 mm
Duration
Time-lapse, continuous — dependent on solar intensity and air flow
Medium
Wooden board, leaves, stones, glass sphere, pieces of wood from the river
Data source
Sunlight and wind — randomness of air flow and solar intensity as generative elements.
Interaction
Environmental, autonomous. Process unfolds without human intervention — natural forces create the record.
Mechanism
Arms driven by wind guide a magnifying glass circulating above the object, creating a record in the medium through concentrated solar radiation.
Inter Solaris (2019) — further development of environmental recording
CONCEPT
Impressio Solaris explores the possibility of recording a place itself — not its representation, but a direct imprint generated by the elements that the place produces. Sun and wind become the authors of the pattern; their randomness and uniqueness form the location’s singular signature.
The analog recording mechanism derives from the concept of the harmonograph. Arms driven by wind guide a magnifying glass circulating above the object, creating a record in the medium through concentrated solar radiation. As the medium for this recording, objects washed up by the river directly at the site where the process takes place were used — the environment determined its own medium. These objects originated elsewhere and were randomly carried by the river to the place where they were found. By arriving at this place, they became part of it.
The randomness of the influences necessary for the recording prevents predicting the outcome. It is precisely this randomness that is one of the values nature works with — the amount of chance within it cannot be regulated or predicted. This gives it the ability of a self-regulating mechanism, through which it creates and eliminates deviations, thereby maintaining stability.
The impossibility of calculating the imprint’s result makes it unpredictable — at the same time, an identical imprint could not arise in another location. The connectivity between the resulting pattern and the place of origin thus creates the uniqueness of the imprint. The imprint itself, created by compressing the given situation into a single whole, reveals an overview of the overall events in the space. The imprint becomes an extract from the place where it was created — it works with perceptions hidden from us, both visually and temporally.
