Speculum is the title of Giovanna’s Cerise’s new installation at LEA6, the home of the UWA’s Full Sim Arts series.

While the title of the piece may give rise to thoughts of certain medical examinations, let me assure you that this is not the intent here. Giovanna is using the word purely to mean “mirror”, and quite without any hint of medical connotations at all, although there are a number of oddly endearing figures earnestly peering into what appear to be mirrored lenses close to the landing point.

Giovanna explains the installation thus:

The mirror, as multiplicity and continuous playback. The mirror, where the invisible overlaps the original and the hidden appears suddenly. The mirror, as an illusion of which you can not do without. The mirror as a projection in an unreal dimension. The mirror that opens the door to …

Beyond the figures with their little eyepieces held up to their lens-like heads, is a truly astonishing build, which Giovanna recommends is viewed using either the Verdigris windlight setting or a sunset setting. I used both, and they serve the installation well.

The main parts of the build comprise huge, intricate wooden structures, gigantic lattices of beautiful complexity, which hold aloft great cog-like discs representing mirrors. Three of these rise from the waters of the region, their mirrors pointing skywards, while a fourth floats overhead, holding its mirrors upright.

Between and under these stands another construct, a huge rectangular piece, partially wreathed in shadow, within which sits a series of white convex forms, again suggestive of mirrored lenses. To fully appreciate this piece, you not only need to see it from without, but also travel through it (click the single mirror cog raised on a pole at the landing point to be teleported). The optical effects seen as you walk through the “lenses” and shadow areas can be striking.

Giovanna has always shown great aptitude in using light and space in her work, as well as using geometric forms and structures, and her artistry with all of them is very much on display here. This is a stunning and immersive build, and will remain in place through March. I do thoroughly recommend you pay a visit.

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