Forms of Refraction

Ayşe Emre (2025)

Audiovisual installation
Lenses, LED-light, haze, sound

In Forms of Refraction, I transform light into a spatial and physical experience. Three platonic solid structures, a dodecahedron, a cube and a tetrahedron, are constructed from optical lenses and suspended in space. A single moving light travels through them, refracting into shifting focal points that become visible in the haze.

Platonic solids are regular polyhedra, of which only five exist. Plato described them around 360 B.C., linking each to the elements of fire, water, air, and earth, while the dodecahedron was associated with the cosmos and the Zodiac. In 1619, Johannes Kepler illustrated the five solids in Harmonices Mundi, underlining their symbolic and mathematical significance.

The sound, composed by Laura Kampman, moves in dialogue with the light, creating a rhythm that fills and defines the space. Together, image and sound form an environment that unfolds slowly, where movement and geometry merge into an atmospheric whole.

The work brings ancient mathematical forms into a contemporary context, revealing their structural beauty through light and sound.

Presented at Podium Victorie during Museumnacht Alkmaar, September 27, 2025

Forms of Refraction was realised with the support of Patch Studios, Inga Hirsch, Maarten Keus, and Jacob Wallet. Presented in collaboration with Podium Victorie, Museumnacht Alkmaar and Cultuurkartel

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