In This Issue
Teasing to the Eye
U of G physics prof designs eye-catcher for Kitchener square
BY ANDREW VOWLES
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| A centrepiece of Kitchener’s new-look “Speaker’s Corner” is this anamorphic artwork designed by Guelph physicist Jim Hunt. Photo by Jim Hunt |
It’s a piece of public art worth reflecting on. Pedestrians visiting a new-look square in downtown Kitchener are enjoying the mirror trick in an installation using the handiwork of retired U of G physics professor Jim Hunt.
Visit “Speaker’s Corner” at King and Benton streets and you can’t miss the eight-foot-high stainless-steel cylinder installed during last year’s renovations to this public square. Stand outside a grid of porcelain tiles at its base, gaze at the pillar and, voila, an amorphous dreamscape printed on those tiles turns into a clear photographic image in the column’s mirrored sides.
Two photographic images, in fact — both depicting the surrounding streetscape in photos taken before the area’s renovation.
“The memory of the old is apparent in the new,” says Hunt, whose fascination with Renaissance-era anamorphic art underpins the new Kitchener installation by Canadian artist Allan MacKay.
The installation, including two new granite-clad walls with etched images and phrases evoking the public voice, was dedicated during a ceremony in early December.
Completion of the redesigned “Speaker’s Corner” marked the end of the first phase of the area’s redevelopment, expected to be completed in 2011.
For Hunt, the crucial moment occurred a few days earlier, when workers began laying the tile around the pillar. That’s when he saw that his earlier labours had worked out and that the deliberately blurred image in the tiles was reflected crisply in the cylindrical mirror.
Anamorphic art uses distorted images that appear normal only when viewed from the correct angle or with the help of curved mirrors. The form gained popularity as both art and entertainment during the 16th century.
Although Hunt had first created pieces for display here on campus a decade ago, he hadn’t seen his retirement hobby turned into a permanent public art installation off campus. No wonder he was a bit anxious last month.
“I saw it was right and breathed a sigh of relief. I had done the math and models, but if I had been wrong on an $80,000 project . . . .”
(The entire square renovation, including lighting and new benches, cost about $80,000.)
“I know I got it perfect,” he says. “The picture came out with an absolutely straight top line. I’m quite pleased with it.”
So were city officials and passersby who stopped to take in the pillar’s trompe-l’oeil effect. Referring to the cylinder’s slanted top, Hunt says of the piece: “It’s already got a nickname: ‘Kitchener’s Lipstick.’”
A decade ago, physics professor Bernie Nickel — who retired last year — helped him work out the complicated equations for designing variously shaped anamorphs. Despite the long history of anamorphic art, no one had figured out the math behind the images until the U of G duo teamed up.
In 2007, Hunt created an exhibit for the “Shakespeare — Made in Canada” show held at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. That work caught MacKay’s eye during a visit and led to their collaboration on the piece for “Speaker’s Corner.”
Another example of Hunt’s handiwork adorns the foyer of the MacNaughton Building. Glance upward and you’ll spot images of Einstein and Newton reflected in a suspended steel cylinder.
Now he has another campus project. Last month, he received approval to design and build a different kind of anamorphic work to adorn an interior wall of the science complex. The new piece will be based not on mirrors but on the changing perspective of passersby.
Approach it from one direction and you’ll see one image printed across a series of angled vertical protrusions. Look back as you pass the display and you’ll see a second image on the reverse side of the slats.
Hunt likens the effect to images flipping back and forth on the rotating shutters of an advertising billboard — “except mine is perfect and the advertising ones are not.”
He hopes to complete the piece by the end of this year.