In her constructions of ‘artificial mirrows’ Sinta Werner invites us into the impossible, where logic struggles to understand the experience- how could one look at the reflection in a mirror without appearing where you expect to be in the reflection itself?
This proposition is at once an act of generosity from the artist, who articulates the play on position, and then an act of control, or dictation, demanding the viewer to inhabit a specific point to be included in the illusion.
Werner specifies that the works are conceived purely of logic rather than narrative, but I argue that in making the viewer implicit in the success of the work, we are involved, and our emotional reactions may be inseparable from our logical analysis.
However, it is with physical installations that the limitations of reproduction are felt most keenly. Without having shared the space with Werners work, or to have engaged with it physically, to have been allowed to appreciate the workings (the back of the works are left deliberately exposed) then it is impossible to surmise the impact of the pieces.