The Gossamer Door
The Gossamer Door is a sculptural installation built around a halved toy horse suspended within an aluminum frame. The object functions as both a physical artifact and an optical device. One half of the horse is visible to the viewer, while the interior is transformed into an illusion of depth through mirrors, projection, and controlled lighting.
The work uses a one way mirror, a rear reflective surface, and a 3D printed spacer modeled to match the horse’s torso, creating an infinity mirror effect that suggests a space extending far beyond the object’s actual dimensions. Projected textures mapped onto the interior surfaces animate this space, giving the impression of movement, atmosphere, and instability. The projections are generated from a digital model of the horse, collapsing the distinction between the original object and its virtual reconstruction.
Lighting elements are largely hidden, emphasizing the illusion while concealing the apparatus that produces it. The piece oscillates between toy, stage set, and machine, inviting close inspection while resisting a single fixed reading. Familiar materials associated with play are repurposed to produce an experience that is simultaneously intimate and disorienting.
The Gossamer Door considers how perception is constructed through layered surfaces and mediated space, using a child scale object to frame questions about interiority, control, and the tension between physical presence and digital simulation.
12/12/2025