ludus amoris is inspired by the phenomenon of refraction, the effect of light being „broken“ when travelling through water. The installation comprises a procedurally generated dance between two non-human players orbiting and mirroring each other in a quasi-periodic motion and a water tank through which the scene is being projected.
The artwork is created to put the players in a meditative state: contemplating the cycle of constantly being rebirthed - piercing the surface to become anewed.
Just as the universe is expanding from the big bang and then contracting again, reducing itself to a single point, also the connection between humans is an everlasting dance of two lovers. One cannot exist without the other, together they create divine play („leela).
The artwork was realised by the development of the refractional ludic method: a pataphysical approach to the way light behaves when it passes through different materials. In this method refraction is being seen as an interpersonal process that transforms ideas, thoughts, feelings and sensations through fracturing in a unique and non-repeatable way via the connection between two or more players. In the process of refraction, the information of the counterpart is absorbed in the form of frequencies via the eyes, are transmitted via the vagus nerve and creates intense vibration on the diaphragm. The refracted frequencies are then transmitted back to their original transmitter in an uniquely transformed way. Refraction is described as translingual, open-ended, collective, network-building and can be seen as the opposite of alienation.
When energy is fractured in a way that creates intense resonance in the subject's body, this is called a hyperrefractive state. The phenomena is closely related to states of ecstasy or trance, but is characterised by the fact that it cannot be achieved alone.
