Valeria Divinorum, THE OCULUS

A site-specific immersive installation that uses a stained-glass panel, motors and LED lights.

The Oculus is a site-specific immersive installation that uses a stained-glass panel, motors and LED lights. The work exists in a room containing a minimum of 3 walls. When walking into the room the viewer will see in the center a glass panel hanging, spinning very slowly. On each wall there will be a corresponding light installed casting colors and shadows through the center piece. The overall experience for the viewer is to enter a room that is entirely immersed in slowly shifting reflective light textures and patterns.

The “Oculus” brings forward a contemporary vision of our deepest fears –timelessness, the mysteries of life and death, the unknowable. As the viewer explores the space the passing of light conveys the natural cycle of corporal decomposition: rebirth through transformation into earthly nourishment. Humans, as earthly beings, cannot avoid this conflict with nature and death. In contrast, the multi-dimensional, fractal imagery of the stained-glass panel invokes the spiritual essence of the soul and its ability to transcend the physical debt.

My work plays with the articulation between physical space (walls/architecture) and intangible space (light and shadows). Light reacts with my pieces to form immersive reflections and in turn uniquely transforms every viewer’s experience. Each geometric shape defies its form as it casts a presence according to the availability of light, scattering colors and patterns across the room. In this experience the borders are not confined, but extend as far as the light can travel.

This site-specific work is an allegory of the human connection with nature. It establishes a bridge with the human body and math that appears in nature. The Oculus invites one to have a deeper contemplation of our universe, and to shift one’s perception of reality.

Valeria Divinorum, 2021

Valeria Divinorum is a Queens based visual artist and architect with formal training in the school of Architecture in Buenos Aires. She has attended residencies in Argentina and the US and has created works for a variety of contexts including galleries, live performances, Community Gardens and site-specific installations. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of New Media Art at LaGuardia Community College and teaches art workshops at BronxWorks Senior Center and public schools through Lehman College Art Gallery. She has a passion for creating works for the public and with the public, to embrace connectedness and democratize art making for people in our community. Her work specializes in stained-glass sculptural objects which she uses as a lens to experiment with the intangible properties of light. She has a deep interest in exploring the optical perception of space through traditional and new media techniques, creating dispersion of light into spectral components. Her practice embodies light, shadows, structures and translates symbolism from ancient cultures into contemporary creations; finding new forms relating to spatial interaction by the interpenetration of space into one single sculpture. A major theme in Valeria’s work is the human connection with nature and the organic expressions that emerge from that relationship. In flowers, fractal patterns appear and geometric compositions become apparent through these geometric patterns we can witness the perfect balance of life and creation in the spiraled recurrence of time and space.