ABOUT
The magic mirror pond looks like just a sandy pond bed by day, but turns into a magical piece of projection art by night.
Anyone passing by, stopping to draw in the sand or ponder over the poem by day, will be able to see their reflection travel through time and observe themselves again at night. What has changed in the past few hours, does your nighttime self feel different form your daytime self?
The participatory art piece draws inspiration from Baltic-Nordic mythologies and takes a playful twist on documenting our festival experiences.
Involving the audience in the very content of the piece led to unexpected moments like large groups of people standing and staring at a projection of another large group of people standing and staring back from the bottom of the pond (a stare-down between the "real" people and the "pond people"), people leaving presents and messages in the sand, including a two-page letter in a bottle, and a group of teenage boys showing a live snake to the camera.
Children seemed to get the jist of the artwork quickly and were eager to leave funny messages for the next night's video, while grown-ups took their time pondering on the meaning of the poem.
THANK YOU
Visualia artist residency
Jonas Johansson & Rose Hallgren
Jonas Johansson & Rose Hallgren
EXHIBITIONS
Into the Woods Festival, 18.–21.7.2024, Unnaryd, Sweden
Visualia artist residency, 7.–8.5.2024, Glommen, Sweden
Visualia artist residency, 7.–8.5.2024, Glommen, Sweden
Installation view in Glommen during dusk.
Installation view during daytime on days two and three, at Into the Woods festival in Unnaryd, Sweden.
People had started leaving messages, little presents and items into the sand. On day three, there was even a message in a bottle. It was a two-page long poem typed with a typewriter and addressed to an unknown reader.
Children and grown-ups loved to play with the sand in the sandpit during the day.
The poem reads:
Kom nära under dagens ljusa stund
och låt dig beaktas av dammens grund
Återvänd vid solens läggdags,
din reflektion är på sin plats.
Kom nära under dagens ljusa stund
och låt dig beaktas av dammens grund
Återvänd vid solens läggdags,
din reflektion är på sin plats.
Installation view in Unnaryd during nighttime, with projection.
Installation view from Visualia, Glommen. Photographed by Rose Hallgren.