Rising as a pillar of light, Fiddlehex invites the public into an interactive visual narrative that explores our renewed relationship with nature, as plant life remerges in the spring. This work is an homage to one of the earliest arrivals in Ontario: fiddlehead ferns. The sculpture consists of six acrylic panels, lit from below to illuminate a series of illustrations that blend algorithmically generated ferns with hand-rendered botanical drawings. The laser-etched acrylic catches the light, illuminating illustrations with shifting colours that fade and brighten in response to the viewer’s proximity.
The abstracted illustrations of the panel speak to the theme of renewal through growth and change. By blending geometric and organic forms, this work illuminates a reconnection with nature and new growth – stepping from grey winter into the bright springtime light. The overall effect of the installation is one of continuous transformation and evolution. When someone steps close, Fiddlehex warms to their presence. As the audience approaches the work, panels will light in sequence, showing the unfolding of a spring fern. This illumination sequence invites the audience to consider the ongoing process of renewal in their own lives. Each step becomes a discovery, as the viewer is invited to explore and engage with the piece in a new way. Through the use of light and imagery, Fiddlehex speaks to the promise of new life around the corner.
Artists
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Sagan Yee
Sagan Yee is a media artist and organizer based in Toronto. Their creative practice includes animation, speculative fiction, screen-based digital games, playful experiences, and alternative controller collaborations. They are currently working on a videogame about city life and gentrification, funded by the Toronto Arts Council.
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Dave Cox
Dave is a fabricator, engineer, and film technician who currently works with a textiles firm in Montreal, QC. Comfortable with CAD, mechanical and electrical design, and video production, Dave has worked on everything from twitter-enabled platform shoes, to novel textile testing equipment, to a four month self-documented ride across canada on a unicycle.
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Alex Leitch
An interaction designer by training, Alex finds great creative satisfaction in organizing teams to build public art installations. Alex divides their time between Toronto and Washington, D.C, where they serve as assistant director of the Human-Computer Interaction program at the University of Maryland.
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Lee Wilkins
Lee is the head of community initiatives at the Milieux Institute at Concordia University, Montreal. Their practice is based in interactive electronic installations and community outreach. Lee is presently working on their dissertation, focused on the infrastructure of outer space, at the University of Toronto.
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Hillary Predko
Hillary Predko an artist, writer and researcher based in Hamilton. Her practice intertwines digital fabrication with themes around the environment and industrial development. Her MES thesis at Queen’s University tackled mining in Nunavut and is now under contract with Routledge Press.
