Astrolabe, 2014

Owen Morrel

American
Stainless Steel and Painted Aluminum

Texas Tech University
Experimental Sciences Building
Experimental Sciences Building courtyard

Astrolabe is referent to a primitive navigational instrument. Unlike the original astrolabe, which was an instrument designed to orient navigators to the stars, in this instance, it asks the viewer to reorient the mind within a constructed landscape through the act of seeing. It is puzzle-like and requires the viewer to be active, to walk around the piece in an effort to discover what is happening and how it works formally and visually, not necessarily to solve a riddle in a linear and rational fashion. This piece asks the viewer to accept the totality of the experience as irrational, unfamiliar, challenging, and irreducible.