CYGNUS nightlight

CYGNUS is a response to one of my favourite poems, "who are you,little i" by e. e. cummings. I interpret the poem as a contemplation on aging. It is concerned foremost with the idea of shifting one’s perspective to appreciate the hidden beauty found in gradual yet inevitable changes—so youth fades into senility, day becomes night. Inspired by an overnight biking trip in 2015 when I went to see the Perseids meteor shower in Tommy Thompson Park, this luminary device (“nightlight”) incorporates the element of change with the use of a discrete quartz clock movement. At a casual glance, the second hand causes the stars to twinkle and blink. A more careful observation reveals the effects of the coloured acetates rotating with the minutes. But only during a nightlong vigil does the ultimate subtlety of CYGNUS unveil itself: the celestial dome completes a revolution over the course of twelve hours. "Body, Object, and Digital Space," OCAD U, February-April 2017.