Now You See Me

Now You See Me is a hypothetical interactive installation informed by the pandemic, that uses mobile curtains to block or open vistas between neighbouring sculptures, and create everchanging pockets of space within an existing public garden. The curtains continually roam the garden in response to visitors’ movements.

Each curtain forms a physical link between two adjacent sculptures, scribing an infinity loop in plan to symbolise the sculptures’ connection. But when a high number of visitors approach either sculpture, the connection between the two is lost: motion sensors signal the curtain to protect the sculpture, and it automatically draws to close. By extending out into a physical barrier, the curtain interrupts the visual corridor between neighbouring sculptures. Simultaneously, it encircles viewers in an open-air room, whose horizon is reduced to the adjacent sculpture, nearby trees and sky above.

By alternating between hiding and revealing its subjects, the installation continually reshapes viewers’ spatial experience, capturing the state of flux effected by pandemic lockdowns.