Travelling light is most often associated with the image of a ray; a linear course that only alters in encounters with matter. A range of optical instruments can be used to break or combine it. Projectors, for example, primarily use convex lenses to cast digitally transmitted images onto a surface. Developed out of a long-term examination of their technical construction and resulting possibilities, Swinda Oelke’s artistic practice considers processes of image projection in great depth. The projector, but also the infrastructures of the respective exhibition spaces are central concerns in her video sculptures. Within this, she exposes the complex ways in which projectors function, whilst scanning the physical qualities of the environment through the screened videos.
In the RADAR project “Ray Optics”, Swinda Oelke refers to the physical branch of ray optics (geometrical optics), that is the foundation of not only projector construction, but of methods of laser scanning. In a site-specific installation, “Ray Optics” brings the measurement and structure of closed as well as public spaces into focus.