This modern looking harp, where colour and shape constantly shift, continue Stefan Reiss' fascination with the theme of transformation. Working with a linguist, Reiss developed a specific colour palette based on the Latin Alphabet for this artwork.
Each colour corresponds to a written letter or reflects the way sound is physically formed in the mouth. The shapes and colours that you see are a visual transformation of the original letters. Vowels form a spectrum of greys, while the consonants are different hues.
Underneath the dynamic interplay of colour and shape lies a highly systematic process that Reiss uses to limit his own artistic practice, challenging him to explore the potential of constrained artistic strategies. Alongside alphabets and geometrical elements like lines, beams and polygons, Reiss is using Morse code in O.T. 1407, a subtle nod to a shipping language used in the Netherlands until 1998.
Combining the digital imagery with the harp-like structure, Reiss creates a three-dimensional world of colour, material and form that has an architectural quality. The animated light and the form of the object itself become tensile-like structures that depend upon one another yet retain their own identity. Together, they evoke something almost musical: a flow of movement, a sequence of phrases, or the quiet rhythm of a poem.
