Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

2012

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mirror mosaics, foam, rotary motor, light projectors

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding was installed in the Medieval and Renaissance Gallery of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a setting filled with statues and architectural fragments removed from their original contexts. In the evenings, with the gallery lights off, only fragments of the surrounding objects and space became visible through the scattered reflections from the rotating half-disco ball, which cast intermittent, fractured light across the room.

This interplay of light and shadow heightened the installation’s critique of the museum’s role in framing and fragmenting cultural history. By illuminating portions of statues and architectural pieces in fleeting, fractured glimpses, the installation emphasized the partial and decontextualized way history is often presented within institutional spaces. The work thus encourages viewers to question the coherence and completeness of historical narratives, revealing the museum itself as a space of fragmented perception where cultural heritage is mediated, reframed, and inevitably distorted.

Photo: Christa Holka

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Detail

2012
Mirror mosaics, foam, rotary motor, light projectors

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding
       
     
Mechanisms of Disorientation: Towards a Fragmented Understanding

Installation view, Victoria and Albert Museum, London