Perspectives

Seen from one side this sculpture is *, the pointer symbol; seen from the other it reads NULL. That is Perspectives 1. Perspectives 2 takes the same sculpture apart, slices it, and extends it into an installation made with light.

Perspectives 1

Perspectives is about aesthetic value across dimensions. It is a typographic sculpture, carved so that it holds a different meaning from each point of view.

From the front it reads NULL: the zero-valued ASCII character, which in C simply means “nothing.” From the side it shows an asterisk, the symbol C uses for a pointer, which indicates where an object is located. Together, NULL* (a null pointer) carries both meanings at once: “locating nothing” and “nothing is located.”

In C the two symbols meet in lines like these, where a pointer is made to point at nothing:

node *start, *temp;
start = (node *)malloc(sizeof(node));
temp = start;
temp -> next = NULL;
temp -> prev = NULL;

Sculpture, Isopink insulation foam, 0.3m x 0.07m x 0.07m

Sketches

Perspectives 2

Perspectives 2 extends the first piece. I rendered the 3D model of the NULL POINTER sculpture and sliced it, turning the object into a series of lower-dimensional images. Each section sits on its own acrylic sheet, and the sheets are arranged along a curve under black light.

The arrangement of the sections shows how an upgraded point of view can change the way we see an object.

Media installation, acrylic board and black light, 0.2m x 1m x 1.2m

Plan

The model is cut into 44 sections of 4mm acrylic, set into a slotted base that bends through two arcs.