‘Self Portrait’ is the archetypal blank canvas. The installation engages you, the spectator, with a large-scale, ephemeral representation of yourself. All evidence of the encounter exists only in the moment of interaction between the viewer and the work. Gradually, moment and image fade away.

The installation questions both the traditional concept and content of the portrait as preserving memory through image making. Rather, it creates an elusive presence of entropy. A self-portrait now becomes a profoundly self-reflexive experience which then illuminates the poignancy of the lost moment. The piece follows an aesthetic of presence and erasure that rAndom has been developing over time through a variety of Temporary Printing Machine installations. A permanent piece has been installed at the BMW HQ in Munich, and different iterations have been shown in the V&A and Scope Art Fair in Miami Beach in 2006. In 2009, rAndom‘s ‘Study For A Mirror’ was accessioned into the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

‘Self Portrait’ has been developed with the generous support of Incubator, which is an alternative platform to initiate and develop new work. ‘Self Portrait’ is the first in a series of special projects that rAndom and Incubator are working on and will be inaugurated at rAndom‘s Designer Of The Future exhibition at Design Miami / Basel 2010.