Autor: Silke Rokitta

Two lines are geometrically parallel if they do not intersect. Two geometrically parallel lines intersect in the distance, meet at horizon for the human eye.
So I wanted to test my human perception: what would happen if I would mark two lines, seemingly parallel for the eye, not intersecting in the distance? They would spread out and would not be parallel in reality anymore – but give an impression of parallelism for human perception.

To mark the lines I used wooden sticks, used for marking tracks in the mountains. I liked the idea to use material close to the place, to offer a connection between my abstract experiment and the site, to avoid materials not common up here. I also liked the easy way of placing and removing the wooden sticks, illustrating an abstract idea in a most reduced, simple way. Black of wood, white of snow, easy like a pencil on paper, like a sketch, the simplified structure of an idea. I found out that my idea sounded simply, but it was difficult to realize. There is no exact measure possible out in the snow. You need somebody who show you the right positions of every stick and direct you by sign, some mark to fix the eye, for example on a window, for the person who helps you, and in the end it is not the mark that decides, it is the human eye. The lines simply have to seem to be parallel, no matter of reality.

In the end I found the lines.

It works.

Parallels do not intersect.

Silke Rokitta, 2007

Parellel Perspective, Silke Rokitta, Wooden sticks, Finsevatnet / Finse, Norway, 2007