Dimensions of the Line

Dimensions of the Line transforms a single beam of light into a living, oscillating presence shaped by the human voice, revealing hidden movements of dust and air, and challenging our perception of constancy.

︎︎︎ Images 1–3 show real-time microscopic camera footage of airborne dust at Galerija Forum.

Artist Statement

Dimensions of the Line is a light installation developed in collaboration with composer Yongbom Lee, who created an installation-specific score. The composition relies exclusively on the human voice, singing verses by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (c. 99 BC – c. 55 BC) from his seminal work On the Nature of Things—one of the earliest writings to touch upon light, particles, and matter.

At the core of the installation stands a single beam of light cutting diagonally across the gallery space. In the center of the optical table is a custom-built device, developed in collaboration with the Institute of Physics in Zagreb, which transfers sound oscillations directly onto the beam of light. As sound waves interact with it, the beam begins to tremble, breaking the illusion of a flawless, constant line. Visitors are invited to step into this transformed space, where the line gains volume and unfolds into a three-dimensional presence.

Three microscopic cameras capture the beam in real time from different angles, projecting it at large scale. Two projections reveal the oscillations of the beam under the influence of the human voice, while the third captures the movement of dust particles, stirred by subtle air currents—triggered by the opening of doors, the passage of visitors, or the soft streams of the gallery’s hazer machine.

The installation employs light in a twofold way: shaped by the human voice, and as a medium that reveals hidden interactions in space.

1. Voice as a technological agent.

The human voice bends light, unveiling hidden dimensions of space, where the voice itself becomes a tool of technology. This challenges our most basic assumptions about reality, showing that even light, even a line, are not fixed constants. The voice here is both symbolic and direct: the most primal instrument we are born with, amplified and mediated through a device to shape light itself.

The work builds upon Hiršl’s earlier text The Question of Scale (2016), which explored the exponential acceleration of technological progress and its effect on the compression of time and space. Its central argument was that the spaces we create increasingly slip beyond the limits of our scale—so far, perhaps, that we can no longer inhabit or interact with them.

2. Light as revealer.

Light uncovers hidden fluctuations of dust particles, opening up invisible spaces and complexities that constantly surround us yet remain beyond experiential perception. Even something as mundane as dust becomes entangled in a strikingly organized, ephemeral dance.

Dimensions of the Line continues Hiršl’s long-standing collaboration with Dr. Neven Šantić from the Institute of Physics in Zagreb, where they jointly explore the creative potential of quantum technologies.