star house

an installation about light, and our place in the universe.

hundreds of stars cut from mirror are suspended in a dark space in the shape of a house. the effect is like a constellation within the celestial sphere. from a tiny, invisible opening in a wall, a beam of light is emitted which is reflected back and forth, as the mirror stars move and twinkle in response to the movement of people walking through the installation. As people move along a guided pathway through the star house, a video projection of stars in an expanding universe is projected onto the ground in an endless loop, beginning and ending in darkness and inviting the audience to linger and enjoy the space.

this interactive, immersive installation is about finding our place in our universe. it is about longing and belonging. it makes us aware that we inhabit the middle of a galaxy. stars are all around us, we are moving on a planet among them. starlight comes from the several hundred billion stars in our single galaxy, as well as from the stars in the billions of galaxies in our universe. light takes time to get to us, so we see the sun as it was eight minutes ago, the nearest night stars as they were four years ago, and the andromeda galaxy as it was 2 ½ million years ago. the light from some stars has not even reached us yet. our universe is expanding, as the scale of space itself changes. it is precisely this sense of where we presently belong, shaped in relation to a knowledge of where we have come from and where we may be going, that can establish a sense of true historical and cultural authenticity. in its poetic simplicity, this installation echoes some of the tenets of arte povera.