Liminal Bonds
March 2024

Developed in collaboration with Soyeon Kim and Alina zu Fursternberg for the IES Student Competition. The 2024 competition theme, Proximal Light, challenges students to construct a three-dimensional study exploring light as a medium to express closeness. As our lives balance in-person experiences with online connections and social networks, how does light help to bridge distances and create an intimate environment for interaction?

Liminal Bonds aims to highlight and explore the nature of human relationships and the fluxing nature of the proximity between us. Silhouettes of humans and animals are cut out of a translucent spherical object that rotates inside a cubical, framed box. These silhouettes are projected onto the inside of this cubical frame and appear to dance and swirl in an endless cycle. Some of these projections bring some silhouettes closer together, while some others bring them further apart. These fleeting moments of proximity between living beings echo the interactions and relationships of living beings of all walks of life. Although we appear to be somewhat apart from each other, we’re closer than we might think. Through the use of several dimming lights in addition to a rotating sphere, the installation showcases the beautiful but often overlooked realization that we’re all connected as living beings. Liminal Bonds urges us to question and explore our proximity to each other and to other living beings, and to question our place within the broader universe. Are we truly as isolated as sometimes one might think? What is the nature of our bonds with other living beings and where is the liminal point in which relationships shift in proximity?

    

© Roberto Esquenazi Alkabes