artists sculpt shimmering disk in istanbul with 14,000 eyeglass lenses

artists sculpt shimmering disk in istanbul with 14,000 eyeglass lenses
all images ©caitlind r.c. brown & wayne garrett 

installed on the historic façade of istanbul’s pera museum, a kinetic sculpture towering above entering visitors creates dynamic reflections and impressions of the surrounding urban landscape. calgary-based artists caitlind r.c. brown & wayne garrett have constructed ‘sea/see/saw’ as a 9-meter diameter, circular formation comprised of 14,000 used eyeglass lenses, wire and steel. the installation has been site specifically designed to mirror the shimmering surface of the bosphorus’ golden horn below, when the sun reflects on the water’s edge. constantly shifting views reverberate off the building exterior, magnified and warped by the various intensities of each piece of unwanted eye-wear.

‘if eyes are ”windows to the soul” how do lenses revise our vision of the world around us?’ the artists ask. ‘what presences are evoked by thousands of human objects, especially materials so tied to essential mechanisms of sight? do our former accessories carry faint ghosts of those who used them? what lies between what you see and what i see, and how can we harness our collective vision as a tool for collaborative sight? as the materiality of the installation becomes apparent, the watchers become the watched, and this spectacle of spectacles takes on another subtext – as an icon for collective vision, compound perspectives, and the power of collaborative sight.’

animation showing the changing perspectives of the sculpture at various points throughout the day

in celebration of the pera museum’s 10th anniversary, the installation’s use of disused lenses playfully communicates the idea of changing perceptions, marking the institute’s contribution to istanbul’s cultural landscape and eye focused on the future. additionally, reaching out to the public, the two artists invited communities in both istanbul and their native calgary to contribute unwanted eye-wear to the installation, a majority of which were sourced from the canadian lions eyeglass recycling centre. the lenses used for the sculpture were from eyeglasses that CLERC was unable to recycle, and acquired through a modest donation. 

‘sea/see/saw’ in instabul 

the lenses catch multiple views of the landscape 

installed on the exterior of istanbul’s pera museum

detail of the thousands of lenses 

from the inside, the lenses distort the urban landscape on the other side 

a grid of eyeglass lenses reflect shadows and their surroundings 

looking up from below the installation

detail of the magnified and warped reflections that feed off the building facade 

thousands of individual lenses are formed into a grid within a circular composition

by night, the lenses are illuminated from above

h/t [junkculture]

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