Ignis Fatuus
25 May 2017 - 01 July 2017
WHATIFTHEWORLD Gallery
Cape Town
Cape Town
Ignis Fatuus is a site-specific installation created for Ruby Swinney’s debut solo exhibition.
Its title is drawn from Emily Dickinson’s poem 1551:
“Better an ignis fatuus / Than no illume at all.”
An ignis fatuus—or “false fire”—appears in folklore as will-o’-the-wisps. In Goethe’s The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, these fleeting lights act as guides, bridging the realms of the soul and the senses, and suggesting a reconciliation between opposing forces within the self and, symbolically, within society.
The installation is an immersive, multi-sensory environment. Constructed from tracing paper, perspex mirror, styrofoam, and painted silk plants, it weaves together five moving-image projections with a five-point mix sound installation, composed in collaboration with Warrick Sony.
Its title is drawn from Emily Dickinson’s poem 1551:
“Better an ignis fatuus / Than no illume at all.”
An ignis fatuus—or “false fire”—appears in folklore as will-o’-the-wisps. In Goethe’s The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, these fleeting lights act as guides, bridging the realms of the soul and the senses, and suggesting a reconciliation between opposing forces within the self and, symbolically, within society.
The installation is an immersive, multi-sensory environment. Constructed from tracing paper, perspex mirror, styrofoam, and painted silk plants, it weaves together five moving-image projections with a five-point mix sound installation, composed in collaboration with Warrick Sony.
Ignis Fatuus, 2017. Tracing paper, perspex mirror, styrofoam, painted silk plants, projectors, 5 point mix sound installationSite-specific installation
Installation images
Photography: Hayden Phipps