Susanta Mandal: A Few Moments of Now and Then
© Susanta Mandal
How long does it take to complete a circle?
View photographs from the exhibition/installation
2011 onwards, I have been engaged with a few sculptural works inspired by the so-called magic lantern which was hugely a popular projection device in the Victorian period. With simple mechanics, lens, oil lamp and hand-painted slides.
I tried to absorb that aesthetics and technology in a different way. In one of the works, I made a structure with a few lenses along with a candle. Viewers see slide images projected in 3 to 4 inches. You have to struggle to focus on your own, and feel uneasiness and pleasure in dealing with everything physically. It was an attempt to create a bridge between the old and new together to get a complex amalgamation. (‘How long does it take to complete a circle?’ Is one of the references from this series).
Medium: Mechanical contraptions, candle, lenses (Plano-convex), screen and transparency slides.
View photographs from the exhibition/installation