Self-Similarity
Installation. Four 10x10' panels. Archival pigment prints on translucent vinyl.
“In mathematics, a self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself (i.e., the whole has the same shape as one or more of the parts). Many objects in the real world, such as coastlines, are statistically self-similar: parts of them show the same statistical properties at many scales.”
This is an art installation prepared for a custom room in the Studio TAG gallery and showroom in NYC. The room was 10x10' and was comprised of two glass walls and a 2 solid walls.
David Wittig, 2016
Initial Mockup
This was the original mockup. The room is a 10x10x10' cube.
Panel I - North Wall
This is the original image: a woman's torso.
PANEL II - East WALL
The first image has been magnified 4x and cropped so that center part of it occupies the same amount of space. The image was flipped horizontally to contrast aesthetically with North wall.
PANEL III - South WALL
This is again a 4x magnification of the previous image, or a 16x magnification of the original image. The white part is transparent. When the room is approached from the outside, one could see this 16x magnification transposed over the original image.
PANEL IV - WEST WALL
This is again a 4x magnification of the previous image, However this time the image is presented Hexadecimal code. This is what that portion of the image looks like in the raw format used by computers to store the image data. When the room is approached from the outside, one could see this wall of code transposed over the image segment opposite it (Panel II).
PANEL V - Ceiling
This 4x enlargement of the image section in Panel 4 is presented in binary code. The most elemental form of code in which the image can exist. This is now 1/256th of the original image
West Wall Panel (IV)
WEST WALL PANEL (IV)
WEST WALL PANEL (IV) - Detail
East Wall Panel (II)
EAST WALL PANEL (II)
South WALL PANEL (III)
