Magnifying Glass Sculpture Idea

 Portobello road is a diverse and contrasting space, which has colourful houses that seem to have come out of a children’s book on one side, ethnic shops with vivid colours and fabrics, interesting relief textures found on brick walls and unusual doors and there is another aspect, much more peaceful, with toned down hues of an earth palette that creates a completely contrasting effect with the rest of the area. Significant architectural buildings are present and it seems to the viewer that you are walking from one space to another, almost as though you are walking through time. As I have already made a series of collages that link together these different elements and have worked in Cinema4D to make a video that shows the shattering of glass reflections of the space, I am thinking of capitalizing the idea of reflections in this area. I have the idea of how to bring together disparate parts of the site, so that a person when walking through the street, can experience all aspects of it, without having to walk around the entire area. Taking the idea of fragmentation and collage, reflection and glass, I have come up with the idea of making a sculpture with magnifying glasses that will reflect the area. The lenses will be placed at various heights and will consist of various sizes that will include short lenses as well as long ones, so that “hidden” parts of the area will be revealed and others will be highlighted or dimmed down. As the site already has a rich and colourful palette, I do not want my construction to impose another on it. Glass is reflective and completely neutral, so will be an ideal medium to use for the sculptural intervention. Given the site’s ties with the artistic community, having a sculptural construction, fits in with its history and cultural context.