The recent addition of Bloomberg Hall to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey provides a new complex for the resident astrophysicists. The research of these scientists might be understood most basically by a layperson as an attempt to forge a link between the familiar and that which has yet to be recognized. This process of translation became the starting point of the project.
Fragments of reflective metal can be seen through the trees surrounding a grass-covered court at the front of the building. Some of these are silver grey aluminum and double as benches; others are narrow troughs containing water that captures the light or images of the surrounding landscape. Pieces of slate embedded in the grass continue the pattern at a larger scale.
For the viewer a series of questions are raised. At what point is there recognition of the repetition of the same pattern at different scales? Is the pattern random? Are there other patterns, signs or images to be found within the fragments? Does the pattern extend beyond this immediate area to emerge in other locations?
Each viewer deciphers this place, constructing his or her own meaning, bringing focus on sight recognition of form and the imagination.