Light installation. Old Roman mirrors and reflective objects found at the Wicar studio (Rome), flashlight, 2 LED projectors, 2025.

Created as part of the PRIX WICAR 2024.

An object that may appear mundane in everyday life, the mirror nonetheless carries a rich symbolic resonance.
Through this installation, Mercedes Klausner sketches a luminous composition emerging from a projection onto a set of old mirrors found in the city of Rome, along with reflective elements recovered from the Wicar studio. This aggregate of objects, which seems to hold a talismanic quality, creates an interplay of mirrored visions and halos.
The piece draws inspiration from Annie Le Brun’s essay The Speed of Shadow (La vitesse de l’ombre), in which she invites us to decolonize the gaze by paying attention to fleeting images (images en fuite) and unexpected constellations (constellations inédites), the visual connections generated by our own minds.

Mais c’est avant, avant que des milliards d’images numériques nous assaillent quotidiennement, jusqu’à nous rendre indifférents à celles qui nous avaient enchantés.

Annie Le Brun, La vitesse de l’ombre.