The ‘First Impression from the Measuring Device for Negative Space’ is a self portrait studying the impact my own impression left behind as I pressed my body against the bars of a self constructed measuring device formed like a giant profile gauge.  Was the impact a positive or negative one? Did it leave behind a hollow space or a positive form? As I pressed myself against the device starting from the bottom and moving upwards I found it impossible to maintain the same pressure on each level. The machine in its crudeness revealed an image that was somehow more human then if it had been a perfect representation. We are often unaware of what kind of trace or impact we leave behind, and the glass body made from these measurements revealed a fragile human figure, which under certain circumstances almost got overpowered by its own shadow.

The Measuring Device for Negative Space is a human sized profile gauge, where the bars made of glass are set in tubes that can be adjusted up and down. By placing a piece of paper underneath and using a thread with a pendulum/weight a topological drawing can be made of the human form that presses itself against the glass bars.  The markings on the glass represent the different measurements.

A Review of the exhibition was written by Mariann Enge for the Norwegian Magazine Kunsthåndverk issue 3/2010

Photo: Pål Hoff

Photo: Pål Hoff