Analemma

ANALEMMA

Permanent collection, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT

Commissioned by the David Bermant Foundation

Year:
1988

Dimensions:
Overall: 10′ x 12′ x 6′ (305 x 366 x 183 cm)
Left and right vitrines each: 7′ x 4′ x 6′ (213 x 122 x 182 cm)

Materials:
Air, glass, lead, mineral oil, sand, steel, aluminum, brass, motors, timers, pigment, copper, ammonium chloride, incandescent light, and gold

Analemma was a diptych built into a pair of exterior windows on the ground floor of the Wadsworth Atheneum’s Avery building.

On the left is a scene of immortality. Arced baffles recede into the depth, framing a diaphanous dissolving image: Above an ultramarine blue cone, an animated gilt sphere floats in a beam of bright light on a column of air. As this image dissolves, a gold halo encircles the sphere and the blue cone becomes a lively red ribbon flame. As the two images slowly dissolve into each other, they come alternatively into focus. In the foreground, the wheel of chance comes into view, and spins into life; the sections of the disc gather momentum and dissolve into a whole.

Juxtaposed in the right window is a scene representing mortality. A metronome refers to mechanical increments, to rhythm. An hourglass is poised and rotated so as to demonstrate the passage of time, ever-dissolving. A black sine wave is activated, vibrates for an instant. A watchglass fragment is incremented. The enshrined niche contains the illuminated form of a perfect crystalline amphora. This humanoid vessel is like a lens, magnifying and focusing the light. One observes this image fracturing before one’s eyes as it dissolves into a multitude of shattered glass fragments. The cycle repeats itself as the amphora is reassembled; again and again it dissolves and is reconstructed. The wheel of chance enters the scene; as the momentum of rotation dissipates the wheel comes to rest. A red indicator marks the very instant.

Analemma was visible to the public from the outside of the building 24 hours a day during the full run of the exhibition.