On the first day of class, during our 30 minute experimental shadow excursion, I thought it would be cool to experiment with the translucent nature of trace paper. I drew a pattern on a piece of paper that attempted to express a concept I have struggled with in the past: Harnessing randomness and uncertainty. I blew up the drawing in the copier, scanned it and printed two different versions on trace paper. By overlaying the images with a slight gap, it created a interesting effect. Unfortunately, It would not cast a shadow.
The logical next step was to print the same patterns on a translucent material. This time, using a projector as the light source, I was able to cast a shadow. I experimented with different surfaces…smooth wall, crumpled trace paper, my face. All produced interesting effects. One unintended consequence was the interesting reflections generated of the reflections. By rotating the “light manipulator,” I could produce green, purple and white reflections.
The next step will be to experiment with cutting and folding paper. I don’t think the pattern I chose was very successful for this project because the shadows produced are hard to differentiate. I may choose another design for some of the other panels.