Fero Olivia

Ad Infinitum

This series is a selection from a typological collection of kaleidoscopes recording the moment of looking, the technicality of scale and the vessel itself. They are not displayed archaeologically or ethnographically if indeed an object first patented in 1814 by the Scottish scientist, Sir David Brewster could be represented in such a way. However, their existence does reach back to antiquity and the earliest written reference was in Magia Naturalis (1558-1589). Instead, this collection is inspired by the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, where items are displayed by function rather than by period, geography or value. These pieces have an entirely different role in society than forty-nine amulets, headrests for sleeping or the type of experimental syringes that create an involuntary wince, but their variety is still fascinating: they are made by hand or machine, of plastic, paper or brass, they are different sizes and they come from all over the globe. Their functional commonality is that they fragment colour, their purpose is similar to a role of art to bring pleasure through looking and that they are gloriously universal in appeal. They were acquired by numerous individuals and found their way to me through a variety of paths, clandestine transferal of objects with strangers during the COVID-19 lockdown, social media adverts, children and friends of friends. These are objects you usually stumble upon by chance individually, with limited context as a temporary interruption. I did not attempt to take possession, I became the custodian of memory and its fragmentary immortalisation only. The projections kaleidoscopes produce are fleeting and difficult to replicate, the illusion of the infinite evokes Islamic geometric design or mandalas, but they support no doctrine, simply providing a moment of stillness and observation. They represent the act of interruption and momentary play, yet they achieve the status of fetishisation. One of these patterns has been immobilised and the time of creation recorded in the title as is the attempt through scale and external appearance to explain its existence, a deliberate failure to demystify the alchemical mirage and the experience it provokes. As much as the vessel, the photographs document the act of looking, the solitary performance that is absent and denied to the viewer. They witness the event second hand and in compensation, they can observe a multiplicity of rare treasures and vivid patterns. They remind us of the complexity of existence, the patterns that repeat, the diversity we should delight in and the joy of experience. I owe a debt of gratitude to all those friends and strangers who have entrusted these objects to me or assisted me in my search. I look forward to watching this collection now initiated grow over the coming years. I am currently developing a series of glass sculptures and four lenticular animations (completed, preview here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkMUaNo74Gg) related to this project.