Dominic Harris: Moments of Reflection

About

This exhibition will explore human perceptions and expressions of the self through the artistʼs signature use of advanced digital technology. The interactive nature of his practice engages the viewer directly, who in turn becomes an active participant of the artwork; through various visual, sonic and compositional devices the viewer is materialised within the work.

The exhibition will feature the seminal interactive piece Ice Angel, which was exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum, as part of the London Design Festival in 2012. Moments of Reflectionʼs updated version of the artwork, which now includes interactively driven sound, re-enacts the youthful playfulness of creating snow angels through digital manipulations; the viewer therefore assumes the role of both performer and portrait subject. As the users move their arms, a new wing shape appears, unfurling from the shoulders, moving and displacing virtual snow. The wings are created dynamically and are linked to the participant; the artwork has a ʻmemoryʼ, capturing a hidden view of the participant and his or her angel wings, and this specific angel identity remains linked to that participant in any future encounters with the artwork. The exhibition will also showcase the newly produced ʻBaby Angelʼ, which acts as a small Memento Mori by offering a visual digital recording of the interaction of the viewerʼs body with the large scale piece. In Conductor, the viewer looks out across a mesmeric tapestry of planets and stars on a large 4K high-resolution screen. The viewer becomes the omnipotent architect of the universe as he or she orchestrates the planets using theatrical hand gestures. Concurrently, a soundtrack responds to the movement of the userʼs hands, creating a dramatic and encompassing interaction for the viewer. The use of sound in both Conductor and Ice Angel, which is inherent to the very structure of the artworks, has become a central compositional tool in Harrisʼ practice along with the use of touch, movement and sight. Harris therefore seeks to create a fully immersive sensory experience for the viewer. Vanity Mirrorʼs digital display intensely reflects the viewerʼs image back to him or her 180 times via embedded cameras in the screen. Through this, Harris explores the multiplicity of the image in contemporary society and by extension the notion of celebrity as self, which has been engendered through the rise of social media. Furthermore, Vanity Mirror visually realises the concept of the fragmented psyche within a digitally led, postmodern society.