Artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller talk about their installation The Infinity Machine, a 28-foot-tall rotating mobile comprised of over 140 vintage mirrors. The work also contains an audio element composed of sounds recorded in space by NASA’s Voyager I and II probes, launched in the 1980s. The effect is haunting, hypnotic, surreal and spacey, and inspires reflections on existence, the passing of time, and one’s place in the universe.
The Infinity Machine is the first installation at the Menil Collection’s Byzantine Fresco Chapel since the 13th-century frescoes it housed (and for which the building was designed) were returned to the Republic of Cyprus in 2012. Byzantine Fresco Chapel architect Francois de Menil talks about the strategy behind repurposing the building for the new installation.
The Infinity Machine will be on view through January 2016.
All photos by Troy Schulze: Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller; images of the installation.