Mirror Mirror is the new sound-responsive, interactive public art in Waterfront Park and I predict the new it place to snap a selfie in Old Town. The mirrored piece of public art reflects Old Town’s historic and urban environment, the Potomac, and the spectators themselves allowing for visitors to have an uniquely interactive experience.
The art installation responses to sound with illuminated color in a rainbow-hugged light. The experienced is unique, fluid, and dynamic as the guest having the experience is an essential part of the art. Environmental factors such as the changing rhythms of spring to summer, day to night, rain to sun also affect the callers experience. All of the various elements to the public piece ensure that even if a spectator comes back multiple times the experience will be unique with each visit.
You’ll notice that the public piece is not only the mirrored instillation but also a corresponding color-blocked rainbow painted on the ground acting as a frame to the the public sculpture.
Mirror Mirror was inspired by the historic Jones Point Lighthouse‘s Fresnel lens. Artist and architect, Michael Szivos, explains “For Mirror Mirror we were inspired by the architecture of the lighthouse and how it uses a lenticular lens to cast light, panoramically connecting land and sea. Through a panoramic array of mirrors and sound-response lights, we hope Mirror Mirror will visually blend the waterfront, the fabric of Old Town, and the activity of pedestrians in the new park.”
Szivos studied at Yale and Columbia and owns SOFTlab which is the New York City based design studio behind Mirror Mirror. According to SOFTlab “the studio operates at the intersection of architecture, art, video, and interactive design. . . approach[ing] projects by exploring contextual conditions and effects. [And,] by examining local conditions, they create interventions that become an extension of something existing on site that might not be readily apparent.”
Commissioned by Alexandria’s Office of the Arts, Mirror Mirror is the first in a series of temporary public art exhibitions on display in Waterfront Park. The piece will run until the fall of this year. Szivos stated that Mirror Mirror does not currently have a second home ready upon the conclusion of it’s exhibition in Old Town.
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