Kaléidoscope II
Jean-Pierre Aubé draws inspiration from Expo 67’s Kaleidoscope pavilion, which was sponsored by six Canadian chemical companies. The pavilion was designed by Morley Markson, who created a dynamic psychedelic experience of colour and experimental music as visitors walked through three film projections refracted by multiple mirrors. Aubé’s installation consists of short videos that show the time-lapse crystallization of chemicals purchased through the deep web. Adopting a scientific method, Aubé modified a microscope and used polarized lighting to reveal colour within the crystals, making their internal structures and materiality visible. Each of the short videos is then analyzed in real time using a facial recognition algorithm and relayed to a network of analogue synthesizers. The original soundtrack for Kaleidoscope was by Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer, known for having coined the term soundscape; Aubé, for this work, has modified a track from Voïvod’s Killing Technology album of 1987, referencing the dystopian avant-garde music of thrash metal.
