Autoscopic Egg
Rachel Rose
Born in 1986.
Date:
2017
Medium:
Unique installation comprised of resin egg and HD video
Dimensions:
27,6 × 34,9 × 27,6 cm
Courtesy:
Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York / Rome
Rose’s most sculptural video installation to date, Autoscopic Egg, continues to explore the relationship between our environment –this time understood as immediate and physical– and the spirit world.
The artist made a large resin egg and then electrocuted its centre, producing a frozen electric frequency visibly dividing the egg into two halves. Projecting through the egg are two pieces of archival footage of Fred Astaire performing an identical dance routine on two separate occasions.
In neurology, an autoscopic hallucination describes what is known as an extracorporeal experience where one sees one’s own body projected in the peripheral vision of themselves. Autoscopic Egg refers to this by matching Astaire’s two different performances side by side, perfectly reflecting his movements in one another’s. Similar to a disco ball, the egg refracts light from the projector onto the wall, floor and ceiling, dispersing Astaire’s body into the room.