Joel S. Kollin (Seattle, WA)
Contexture1 (Portal), 2007
Red, green, and blue lasers, lens mirror diffusers, microcontroller
Dimensions variable
Commissions available

Joel S. Kollin is a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington’s Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media. Contextures is his series of work that engages the viewer’s visual system by challenging its ability to form a stable image. Contexture1 (Portal) uses scattered coherent light to form superimposed speckled patterns that move with eye and head motion. As the three-dimensional shifting colored light patterns seen in the portal are dependent on both the viewer’s position and the individual characteristics of their eyes, there is no objective or stable image; the experience is different for every viewer. Dynamic visual noise also invokes the phenomena of “stochastic resonance,” temporarily changing the liminal threshold of contrast detection in the retina and making everything appear to sparkle. This effect may be noticeable for a brief time after viewing the work, but will soon fade and is not harmful.

Video of Contexture1