Pae White Uses Computer-Assisted Loom To Weave Opera Curtain Of Scanned Images Of Aluminum Foil

Pae White is the artist responsible for the best damn stage curtain of any damn opera house in the whole damn world. Hot damn. For the main stage curtain of the Oslo Opera House, the L.A.-based artist scanned images of crumpled aluminum foil and sent the scans through a computer numerically-controlled loom which transformed the pixels into a massive tapestry of cotton, wool, and polyester.  Called “Metafoil”, the curtain takes an old world staple and gives it a stunning digital twist.  Here’s what Pae had to say:

“Metafoil takes advantage of the captive gaze of the audience, introducing a foil, a false reflection, an illusion of depth, a novel typography that disrupts expectation and challenges perception. My work has attempted to subvert the viewer’s expected relationship to an everyday object, nudging them off balance, encouraging a deeper look. My goal is to cause viewers to stop and consider the bits and pieces of our lives that are most often overlooked, perhaps suggesting a more comprehensive reconsideration of the world around us, even to ask ourselves: ‘What is important to us?’ ‘What are we seeing?’ ‘What are we not seeing?'”

The individual threads are visible from a few feet away, but for the audience the perception is completely experiential when they are forced to stare at this singular element of the opera environment — which has remained unchanged for centuries — being suddenly transformed into three things: an everyday object, an iconic presence, and an impossibility all at the same time. To learn more about the brilliant work of Pae White just click HERE.

Source: The Best Part via Planetary Folklore