rodan kane hart: reflection (strips)

‘reflection: (strips)’ by rodan kane hart

south african designer rodan kane hart has temporarily activated the exterior of blank projects in cape town, south africa. using blank project’s closed roller shutter door as a location for his project ‘reflection: (strips)’, hart employed a strategy of site specific intervention consisting of an installation of over 200 (1m long by 50mm high) pieces of recycled mirror. these pieces were installed into the groves of two roller shutter doors spanning a total distance of 8 meters with a height of 3 meters. the ephemeral work stimulated a heightened emotional response through a distorted reflected experience of the urban life of woodstock main road. this intervention drew attention to the actions that are responsible for manufacturing space & place through spatial transformation and perception. by presenting a fragmented representation of the surrounding context, its gesture activates an otherwise non-traditional exhibition space in unexpected ways: the city is no longer just a subject for representation, becoming a strategic medium for reflection.

the evening after ‘reflection: (strips)’ was completed, it was subjected to malicious tampering which subsequently destroyed a large part of the installation. however, the intention of the project was not for the work to rapidly disintegrate, but it reinforced the nature of temporary and ephemeral art practice speaking of the fragility of societal identity & transformation.