Interactive, Kinetic Sculpture

Introspection Machine, 2016 - 2018

Video

Introspection Machine by Terry Reynoldson.

Statement

In this work, the viewer pulls a lever, which sets in motion 3 cylinders with 50 sentence fragments on each. When the cylinders come to rest, one of 125,000 possible sentences is generated.

Theoretically, if it were activated once per day, it would take 342 years to generate all of the available phrases: such as, "When you are anxious, you lust like a hammer"; "When you are lonely, you rest like a wasp"; and "When you are desperate, you love like the sun".

When the viewer generates a sentence and interprets the text, she stirs unanticipated memories and beliefs that colour one another by association. Conceptual boarders dissolve, allowing unrelated ideas and memories to mingle. The result is a mental construction of something utterly new, but also "known" in a vague and mysterious way; similar perhaps, to the way that we construct meaning from a poem.

If poetry leads to introspection and meaning-making, then perhaps Introspection Machine is like a poem generator, ultimately helping us to construct new insights and understanding about ourselves and the world in which we live.

This Fragile Body, 2018

Video

This Fragile Body by Terry Reynoldson.

Statement

When I was young, my world moved around me at a snail's pace. All of the things that spark joy in a young heart - a birthday, Christmas morning, the first day of school, the LAST day of school, summer holidays - seemed unimaginably slow in arriving.

Now that I'm older, the world flies by at a dizzying pace; unfulfilled dreams take on a sense of urgency. Yet, my heart is still young: filled with wonder and excited by the same gentle musings of my youth.

This fragile body is merely a vessel: a temporary home for a spirit that will never, ever age.

I Loved Her Because She Loved Me Because I Loved Her..., 2017

Video

I Loved Her... by Terry Reynoldson.

Statement

I met my love when we were young. Our mutual attraction was immediate and strong and we married quickly.

Together, we created a "bubble" containing only our desire for each other. Around and around we went, like a toy pinwheel pushed by a stale breeze until our hermetic union suffocated.

I Loved Her Because She Loved Me Because I Loved Her… represents my failed marriage. Viewers move a handle, pushing air to a glass sphere and turning a pinwheel adorned with romantic images. The handle moves again, pulling air back to the pump to repeat its pointless cycle… endlessly.