INSTALATIONS

The Church of Light was conceived to be a simple design constructed in wood and glass. A place of reflectance and solitude for the public that was also mobile enough to tour the cities of Germany. It had a degree of self-illumination, but also reflected the outside world through its translucent walls. The architect designed the framework in solid wood, between which the uprights were divided by panels of suspended plexiglass, allowing light to pass both ways.

Artist Hannah Starkey was commissioned to create a work to be installed within the structure. Her proposal was to make a two dimensional lens based ‘alter piece’ to be shown as a back projection on the panels behind the interior and exterior alter. The lighting in the work represented a time lapse 12 hour period compressed into a 15 minute film.

The film consisted of a 22500 frames long CGI reconstruction of the interior. The subject of which is a seated woman positioned directly center of frame turning away from the camera. The inspiration for the figure came from the 1991 Gerhard Richter lithograph – Betty.

The film shows the interior of the church moving from light to dark. Displaying the gradual shifts and play of shadows through the transparent poly carbonate walls. The portrait shows the figure standing in the church but caught in mid turn, with the viewer/congregation placed in real time and real space whilst looking at an abstract two dimensional representation of that space. The slow transformation from light to dark encourages a state of contemplation. Filmed on a RED camera the female model was required to hold her pose for the duration of the piece while the subtle day to night lighting change was recorded.