Exploring the relationship between technology, physical space and the body, The Real Thing employs interactive technologies to instigate the emotional participation of the audience and encourage a return to the body and awareness of physical space.

Here, the user’s movement is captured in real-time; fed through a custom built software that fragments, mirrors and refracts the content, and instantaneously projects it back as abstract seamlessly transforming patterns.

The Real Thing leverages the power and novelty of the kaleidoscope, an age-old optical illusion that reminds us of the childhood awe of watching colors and shapes transform with the turn of a wrist. Conceptually, it conjures notions of seeing and a viewer that is both subject to, and implicit in, the transient nature of what is seen. As a metaphor this enchanting mechanism evokes my conscious play with the viewer as witness, co-creator and interpreter of ‘truth’.

This kaleidoscope has been designed with digital technology, but without the physical realm inhabited by the viewer’s body, it simply cannot function.

The Real Thing continues Maisie’s exploration into the ways in which technology is constantly shifting the relationship between physical and digital space.