Cycles is an interactive installation inspired by 4th and 5th century Greek philosophers Empedocles and Aristotle who identified four fundamental elements: earth, air, fire and water which were unified into a sphere and represented the basic symbolic correspondences of the universe.


Earth, Air, Fire and Water

Empedocles also argued that the quality of matter depended exclusively on the ratio of its elements. A stone, for example, was a stone because of a unique ratio of air, fire, earth and water. These ideas were very influential when developing this software-based installation that could mix the four elements virtually, generate secondary sequences and suggest natural cycles.


The Cycles interface mixes the four elements to generate secondary matter.

In the Cycles installation viewers enter a darkened space. As they enter the space an infrared sensor monitors their movement and activates the piece. A video projector is ceiling mounted and projects a circular image on the exhibition floor.

Four-channel surround sound is monitored through speakers positioned in the four corners of the space to create an enveloping and drifting aural experience.

In the installation viewers are encouraged to walk around the projection and intersect four laser beams. As viewers move around the circular pool of light they trip the laser sensors and the software loads four movies, randomly picked from a database of files. If multiple viewers occupy the space multiple videos run simultaneously to create an ephemeral still image reliant on viewer participation. This image becomes a metaphor for mixing and combining the four elements to generate secondary matter.

Cycles remembers viewer participation and stores this information in memory. When the memory is full it triggers secondary events. Viewers are then transported and displaced from urban environments to natural landscapes, seascapes and airspace. The orientation and direction of the images shifts altering the viewer’s sense of gravity and perspective. Interactive events alternate with linear ones that provide a meditative space for viewers to pause and ponder. Cycles does not have absolute meaning and does not illustrate a fictional subject. The goal of this work is to recreate an experience of the subject, to provoke and stir up viewers who are transported on a journey. This journey becomes the goal of the work and is reliant on the viewer’s subjective point of view. When left idle Cycles triggers a screen saver, it goes to sleep and awaits for participation.