Night Vision(s)

BACKGROUND: Artists have long responded to and interpreted the work of other artists. The current British Council project through which significant writers and poets have been invited to respond to Shakespeare's works on the 400th anniversary of his death. This group exhibition curated by Dr Felicity Spear drew together 9 artists with interests in the sky and astronomy to reveal their diverse responses to a complex yet fictional story, Somnium or The Dream, by Johannes Kepler, the 17th century German mathemetician and astronomer. CONTRIBUTION: The motivation for Duxbury's Night Vision(s) was the photographs she took of the Aurora Borealis while on an artist residency in North Iceland in October 2015. These along with the introductory text in Kepler's Somnium led her to reflect on her dream-like experiences of the Aurora in such a volatile location. The Aurora Borealis flitters across the sky in spooky, magical bands and waves reminiscent of the spirits recounted by the mother in Somnium, who "reject the greater light of other regions...and seek out our shaded areas." One of the spirits was able to transport humans to "other shores". Viewing the Aurora Borealis is not a passive experience. The multiple inkjet printed aluminium panels in Night Vision(s) encourage visual movement from one panel to another emulating the otherworldly experience of being beneath one of the most astounding phenomena in the world. SIGNIFICANCE: Kepler's Dream was programmed as one of only 8 exhibitions at LUVAC in 2016 and included in National Science Week programming.

背景：长久以来，艺术家始终会对其他创作者的作品作出回应与阐释。本次英国文化教育协会（British Council）项目为纪念莎士比亚逝世400周年，邀请知名作家与诗人回应莎翁的作品。本次群展由费利西蒂·斯皮尔博士策展，汇聚了9位关注天空与天文学的艺术家，展现他们对17世纪德国数学家、天文学家约翰内斯·开普勒（Johannes Kepler）创作的复杂虚构故事《梦》（Somnium）的多元诠释。创作贡献：达克斯伯里的《夜视（组）》（Night Vision(s)）创作灵感源自2015年10月她在冰岛北部参与艺术家驻留项目时拍摄的北极光（Aurora Borealis）影像。这些影像与开普勒《梦》中的引言文本共同触发了她的思考：在这片变幻莫测的地域中，她观赏北极光时获得的如梦似幻的体验。北极光以诡谲而富有魔力的光带与光浪在天际摇曳闪烁，令人联想到《梦》中母亲所讲述的灵体——“摒弃其他区域的强光……专寻我们这片荫蔽之地”。其中一则灵体传说提及，灵体可将人类载往“彼岸”。观赏北极光并非被动的视觉体验。《夜视（组）》由多张喷墨打印铝板组成，引导观者在不同展板间移步观览，以此模拟身处这一全球最令人惊叹的天象之下时的超凡体验。意义：2016年，以开普勒《梦》为主题的展览被选为LUVAC当年仅有的8场展览之一，同时纳入国家科学周（National Science Week）活动日程。