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Penumbral Reflections runs at Objectspace from 12 May to 24 June.

Penumbral Reflections runs at Objectspace from 12 May to 24 June. Image: courtesy PAC Studio

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Penumbral screen-prints.

Penumbral screen-prints. Image: courtesy PAC Studio

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The exhibition explores the order created by a grid and the distortion inherent in the Claude glass.

The exhibition explores the order created by a grid and the distortion inherent in the Claude glass. Image: courtesy PAC Studio

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K Road Installation: Penumbral, 2017, Window Gallery Karangahape Road,

K Road Installation: Penumbral, 2017, Window Gallery Karangahape Road, Image: courtesy PAC Studio

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After the exhibition, the Penumbral Reflections installation will become a permanent piece at the Waikereru Ecosanctuary.

After the exhibition, the Penumbral Reflections installation will become a permanent piece at the Waikereru Ecosanctuary. Image: courtesy PAC Studio

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Penumbral Reflections design study exhibition at Window Gallery Karangahape Road, 2017.

Penumbral Reflections design study exhibition at Window Gallery Karangahape Road, 2017. Image: courtesy PAC Studio.

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Objectspace presents this installation of design research from Sarosh Mulla and Aaron Paterson of PAC Studio: Penumbral Reflections. The work consists of an aluminium and steel construct that draws on a grid and a Claude glass — two of the architect’s tools — to create projected light and simulated shadow. 

The exhibition explores the order created by a grid and the distortion inherent in the Claude glass. Image:  courtesy PAC Studio

Penumbral Reflections explores the grid — a long used tool to reveal order and measurement — and the Claude glass — a tool of purposeful and artful distortion. These two are set as opposites, one providing order and the other re-interpreting it. For the installation, four projections of simulations will fill the gallery space, mapped on the aluminium structure.

When viewed within the curved face of the enlarged Claude glass, two penumbral zones of half shadow, similar to that witnessed in a lunar eclipse, are created. The designers say, “The space between the real and the simulated has narrowed in contemporary architectural practice, but it is within this penumbral space that contemporary forms of architectural representation can take shape.”

It is clear that this exhibition has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated. The project is based on architectural themes that are important to the work of PAC Studio and the installation at Objectspace will test these themes before the work is permanently installed at the Waikereru Ecosanctuary, near Gisborne.

Find out more at objectspace.org.nz.


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