John Gerrard: Solar Reserve at The Thomas Dane Gallery London 2014
Solar Reserve (Tonopah, Nevada), 2014 is shown for the first time outside the US, following its dramatic presentation in Lincoln Centre Plaza by the Public Art Fund in late 2014. Shown here as a large-scale projection, the work is a painstakingly accurate, virtual portrait of a functioning solar power plant. Ten thousand concentrically arranged monumental mirrors move in real-time according to the sun’s position. This virtual scene was created with a team of programmers using a sophisticated massive world simulation engine that situated the sun, moon and stars as they appear at the actual Nevada site over the course of a year. As this virtual world rotates on the earth’s axis throughout a 24 hour day, the perspective of the viewer gradually shifts from ground level to satellite view every hour, so that no view is precisely the same at any point during the course of the exhibition.