If I asked you to imagine a reflection, you would probably think of something shiny: a mirror, a pool of water, a pane of glass, or a shiny spoon. But what if I told you that you could also see your reflection in a panel of wood, a layer of pompoms, and even a sheet of carefully arranged trash? American artist Daniel Rozin has made all of those happen. His work revolves around making these “mechanical mirrors”, which contain hundreds of little moving pieces that make it possible to display a reflection of anything in front of it! But how does that even work? The reflection starts with a camera behind his installations, which capture whoever (or whatever) is in front of the artwork in real time. The video is translated into dark or light pixels, and tiny mechanics that control each piece or “pixel” of the artwork can then change to reflect that information. The result is an image that moves with you! With this kind of setup, Daniel Rozin can work beyond the limitations of traditional reflections. He can make your image 10 times bigger than you are, or break it down to black and white, or invert it so your reflection moves opposite to you! His work takes a concept as simple as reflection, and really pushes the limits of interactivity and engineering in art!
Watch the mirrors in action in this video!
