2. Resolutio
Interactive photochromic diptych: ultraviolet light, photochromic pigment on glass, computer vision
Two glass panels that cannot hold an image for long. When you stop in front of them, a camera captures your face and ultraviolet light writes it onto both. On one, it fades until only white is left. On the other, a stain spreads over it until the face is gone, and then the stain itself breaks up and clears to white.
The work
Resolutio is a diptych that exists only while someone is standing in front of it. Two glass panels, each 96 × 96 cm, are coated with photochromic pigment, a material that darkens wherever ultraviolet light hits it and clears again on its own within minutes. When a visitor stops before the work, a camera captures their face, and ultraviolet light writes the same portrait onto both panels at once.
From there, the two images diverge. On one panel the face fades. It loses contrast, thins out, and dissolves until the surface is white again. On the other, a stain starts to spread across the face; it darkens, covers the features, and swallows the whole bust, and then the stain itself breaks up and disperses until the panel is back to white. A full cycle takes a few minutes. Nothing is kept: no image is stored or sent anywhere.