An animated film of flat, moving lines is projected across the installation space and intercepted by a cubic chamber that contains smoke.
The projected light is only visible when it is reflected or intercepted by an object or by particles in the atmosphere.
As the light passes through the smoke-filled structure, lines of light appear to have volume, creating a convincing illusion of solidity.
Viewers see a three-dimensional construction in space that has no physical form.
Title: Pentrojection
Date: 1978
Dimensions: 3 × 1 × 1 m
Materials: Wood, Perspex, smoke, 16mm film projection
Edition: Unique
Produced as part of Pepper’s BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art awarded by Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University).
A paper describing this work and its development was published in the Leonardo Journal of Contemporary Visual Artist.
Kinetic Art: Three-Dimensional Luminous Images Projected into Volumes of Smoke (Pentrojection).
Leonardo, Vol. 12, No. 4, Autumn 1979, pp. 283–289.
The appearance of solidity is convincing as the lines of light pass through the smoke-filled container.
Viewers can place their eyes directly against the projection and look through the apparent structures.
Installations also explored projections into spherical, smoke-filled structures, causing the visible light to curve as it entered and exited.
