A new installation by Betty Tureaud opens on Friday January 24th in Southern Cross, and it’s an excellent example of depth perception.

Infinity Space comprises a huge, multi-hued horizontal space overlaid with two grids, one above the visitor’s head and one below their feet, all of which recedes infinitely into the distance no matter where you stand – or how far you walk.

While it sounds a simple idea, the execution is highly effective; some of the prims used in the installation are phantom extenders, so you can reach the edge of the region and still appear to keep on walking (albeit it with a slight bouncing off the region boundary), while the parallel lines of the grid stretch away in front of you forever converging without ever touching, enticing you to try to keep on following them. This optical effect can be enhanced by operating in Mouselook – which is really the best way to appreciate the build.

There is also a little band of floating pyramids circling around the build, offering visitors a ride which lifts the experience even more. Just click on one of the small poseballs scattered around the arrival point and you’ll be delivered, seated, to one of the moving pyramids. Once there, slip into Mouselook. The effect now borders on the hypnotic as the colours above and below the grid flow and change and the grid slowly appears to rotate, the axes interchanging. Riding in this way immediately put me in mind of part of astronaut Dave Bowman’s trip through the stargate in Kubrick’s seminal 2001: a Space Odyssey, such is the effect – at least in part.

The installation opens at 14:00 on Friday January 24th with a performance by Ultraviolet Alter.

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