Opening 13 April, 6–8pm
Orbiting Rainbows takes it name from NASA’s project to see further out by using clouds of glitter floating in space. It is an unrealised plan to replace heavy and fragile mirrors in extraterrestrial telescopes with clouds of reflective particles arranged by lasers, to catch uneasy reflections of distant planets and stars. It is hoped that an algorithm will be able to decode these reflections into coherent images.
Oliver Hull and Jack Wansbrough’s exhibition is the glittery reflection before it is decoded. The scrambled reflection isn’t hiding distant exoplanets, but familiar places where glitter is sold in bulk – discount and $2 dollar stores. Orbiting Rainbows is comprised of a collection of sculptures and a film about the relationships between image and object, abstraction and interpretation, understanding and misunderstanding. It imagines the potential telescope as camp and malleable, focusing as much on the nature of glitter as on distant planetary visions.