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September 15, 2006
Narcissus Well
Wichita Falls Museum of Art
Midwestern State University
Wichita Falls, Texas
Take Me to the River Exhibition
September 15 - December 10
Narcissus' Well
in collaboration with Gregory Kuhn, Joseph Howard, and Wesley Smith
"What you hope to lay hold of has no existence. Look away and what you love is nowhere. This is your own shadow." – Narcissus Legend from Ovid's Metamorphoses
Narcissus' Well is an interactive multimedia installation that investigates how we are absorbed in the ephemeral, the intangible, the invisible, and the faraway – the quest for self-knowledge mediated through technology. The installation employs a configuration of concave spherical mirrors and real-time digital imaging, in which the spectator interacts with what is described optically as a “real image,” a rendering of his or her own mirror image extruded three-dimensionally into the physical space.
One of the most ancient parables depicting the experience of self was the legend of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image reflected in a perfect pool of water. Narcissus ultimately destroyed himself in the unresolved predicament of self-absorption and self-love. Interaction with one’s mirror image in the installation, like that of Narcissus’ futile attempt to embrace himself in the agitated waters of the reflecting pool, leads to a spectacular audio-visual dematerialization of the viewer experience: a dissolution and immersion in water.
This sensation of absorption and the loss of one’s presence also finds its roots in the fear of souls being captured in mirrors. The Etruscan word for soul, hinthial, literally means, “image reflected in a mirror.” In contemporary times we may ask: is the search for self-knowledge extended and amplified through the medium of digital media? Or, do we find ourselves in a crisis - like that of Narcissus’ confusion or the loss of the soul – in which we can no longer make the distinction between that which is real and that which is not, the convergence and blurring of the real and the virtual, the loss of self in the absence of reality.
Posted by Randall at September 15, 2006 08:15 PM