In this project I explore the ideas of time, perception, and subjectivity.
Looking through original glass windows of historical chateaux of the Loire Valley I was fascinated with how glass slowly traveled through centuries while serving its function. I wondered how thousands of eyes looked through these windows and what they saw outside: the same yet altering landscapes, people long gone, wearing constantly changing fashions, the endless circle of seasons.
Glass is fragile material, yet here it is an anchor of permanence, and a receptacle of time itself. As a medium for viewing, antique glass also represents a “time filter”. It preserves – and makes available to us – the way the same viewing spot had been experienced through the centuries.
While landscapes and events witnessed by a window inevitably change over time, antique glass suggests stability of specific visual perception. Molded glass has inherent flaws and air bubbles in it causing distortion of the picture. This makes an excellent metaphor for subjectivity, when our personal experiences and stereotypes form an imperfect “filter” for interpreting the outside world. At the same time, these inaccurate subjective renderings may have poetic charm due to their uniqueness.
In art, window has symbolism of its own. It is often a metaphor for a threshold between the inner and the outer space, an opening into another side of reality, sometimes in a metaphysical sense. It can represent communication, surveillance, and domination. All these meanings add up to the nostalgic journey of the spectator.
