BREAKING MIRROR (2005)

A video of a mirror that endlessly shatters and reconstitutes itself projected onto sanded Plexiglas. A composite of sixteen videos of mirrors being engraved from behind to create an engraving of a ruined museum entrance hall. Each individual video was made by placing the camera on a photograph facing a mirror. The camera records itself reflected in the mirror. Strong illumination behind the mirror makes the engraved lines appear as glowing lines. The engravings, which each took an hour to complete, are compressed into five minutes. When the engravings are finished, all the mirrors shatter. The shattering is slowed down so that it too takes five minutes to complete. Once the mirrors are all broken, they then slowly reform to reveal the final engraving which is then erased over the final five minutes.

Originally part of Mirror, an installation for the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. To see installation, click here.

Endlessly Breaking Mirror (installation and stills at 0, 57, 58 & 60 min), Ellen Harvey, 2006. Looped video (color, sound, 20 min.) and Plexiglas screen, photo poles, 12 x 9′ (3.66 x 2.74 m). Photograph: Ellen Harvey Studio. Videography: Jan Baracz.