Daniel Rozin - Wooden Mirror

Daniel Rozin’s “Wooden Mirror” is as much a stunning feat of engineering as it is a wonderful example of art and identity. “Wooden Mirror” is made of over 800 tiny wooden panels, each connected to a motor. A computer then takes the image input it receives from a web cam nestled in the middle of the mirror and activates the motors, changing the reflection of the light on those tiles and creating an image. “Wooden Mirror” is also part of larger collection of similar mirrors Rozin has created, including one made of trash.

Since it functions as a mirror, “Wooden Mirror” serves as a perfect example of identity, not just in the images but also with the way the viewer interacts with it. Unlike a conventional mirror, this piece is intriguing to the audience as they try to figure out how it works and interact with it differently then they would a normal mirror. It’s so similar, yet different enough, that the viewer feels inclined to explore more their own identity as they interact with the wooden mirror.


Year(s) Created: 1999

Media Type: Interactive Installation Created by Wooden Tiles

Dimensions: W 67” x H 80” x D 10” (170cm , 203cm, 25cm).

830 square pieces of wood, 830 servo motors, control electronics, video camera, computer, wood frame.


Artist Statement

Built in 1999, this is the first mechanical mirror I built. This piece explores the line between digital and physical, using a warm and natural material such as wood to portray the abstract notion of digital pixels.

Exhibition History

Solo Exhibitions:
2010 bitforms gallery - January
2009 "Reflections" -Exploratorium SF
2007 "Fabrication" -bitforms Gallery NY
2006 bitforms Gallery Seoul Korea
2005 “New Work” at bitforms Gallery NY
2004 “Mirror image” John Michael Kohler Art Center WI
2003 “Mirrors” at Liquid Spaces - Israel Museum.
2002 “Mirrors” at bitforms Gallery NY

Group Exhibitions :
2009 Victoria and Albert Museum London - Decode, Dec1 -Apr 11
2009 5MinutesMuseum , Dutch Design Week Eindhoven NL Oct 17 - 25
2009 Beyond Appearacnes Lehman Gallery New York Sep10 - Dec 1
2009 Pulse New York , March 5- 9
2009 Taubman Museum inaugural show, Roanoke VA- November 08- February 09
2009 "Act/React" Milwaukee Art Museum - October 08 - January 09
2008 "Souls and Machines" Reina Sofia Museum Madrid - June
2008 "Sundance Film Festival at BAM" -June
2008 "Displacement" at CPR Brooklyn NY -March
2008 "New Frontier On Main", Sundance festival - January
2007 "Chapter 2 " Think 21 gallery Brussels, Belgium - December
2007 Pulse Contemporary Art Fair Miami - December
2007 "Make Art" Owens College OH
2006 TimeScan at Daelim Contemporary Art Museum Seoul
2006 Circles Mirror at Wired NextFest, New York
2006 Software Mirrors Itaú Cultural Institute, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Emoção Art.ficial 3.0
2006 Circles Mirror at ArtRock, France
2005 Wooden Mirror at MUSAC, Spain
2005 Trash Mirror at Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts
2005 Live Pictures at Jamaica Center for Arts. NY
2005 ARCO Madrid Spain
2005 “Mosaics” exhibition at “Zman Laomanut” Tel Aviv Israel
2003 "Ars Electronica" - Trash Mirror . Linz Austria
2003 Group exhibition “Body Double” at Art Interactive Cambridge MA .
2002 American Museum of Moving Image - “Trash Mirror” in lobby.
2001 Inaugural exhibition, Markle Foundation Rockefeller Center New York
2000 "New Media New Face - New York" April 2000 ICC Tokyo Japan.
2000 "SIGGRAPH" July 2000 Siggraph art gallery New Orleans.
2000 "Media_City Seoul 2000" September 2000 Seoul, Korea.
2000 Tisch School of the Arts 35 Anniversary Gala December 2000 Lincoln Center
1999 "Interaction-99" March 1999 Ogaki City, Japan.
1999 "Ars Electronica" September 1999 Linz, Austria (Honorary mention).
1999 "More and Less" October 1999 ITP New York University New York.

Image Sources

Photograph. 'The Wooden Mirror' by Daniel Rozin. Design Boom. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/read.php?CATEGORY_PK=&TOPIC_PK=2897.

Wooden Mirror at the Israel Museum. Photograph. Daniel Rozin Wooden Mirror. Daniel Rozin. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. http://www.smoothware.com/danny/woodenmirror.html.

Wooden Mirror. Adapt. Daniel Rozin. Daniel Rozin: Interactive Art. Smoothware.com. Web. 2009. http://www.smoothware.com/danny/woodenmirror.html.

Bibliography

"Daniel Rozin." Siggraph.org. Siggraph. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. http://www.siggraph.org/artdesign/gallery/S00/interactive/thumbnail16.html.

Rozin, Daniel. "Wooden Mirror." Daniel Rozin: Interactive Art. Smoothware.com. Web. 2009. http://www.smoothware.com/danny/woodenmirror.html.

"'The Wooden Mirror' by Daniel Rozin." Designboom.com. Design Boom. Web. 8 Dec. 2009. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/read.php?CATEGORY_PK=&TOPIC_PK=2897.