Sunk in a Sea of Silver, 2025
Digital prints with reactive ink on transparent silk, welded and ground steel
Stained pine frames, motion detectors connected to fans through Air-duinos
Film: 17 min, 22 sec. sound from Drunkna I Ljus by Hugo Randulv, projected on transparent silk
Hilda Randulv’s Sunk in a Sea of Silver is a multimedia work rooted in her childhood experiences with epilepsy and drifting in and out of consciousness. Her fascination with the interplay between presence and absence appears in facial expressions that seem to vanish, emphasizing the subtlety of microexpressions.
Interactive elements complicate the viewer’s perception of the subject, mirroring how external events triggered attacks that blurred her awareness and surroundings — moments she, as both the experiencer and artist, cannot remember yet wishes to understand. Custom-built frames, equipped with hidden fans activated by motion sensors, respond to the viewer’s presence by setting the fabric in motion. The fabric’s transparency allows images and projections to overlap, producing an unstable surface of vision. A film projection with sound adds another layer, flickering between intimacy and distance. The polished metal structure reflects light in sharp flashes, recalling the disorienting, strobe-like effect of lamps that can trigger epileptic episodes. Together, these elements extend the dialogue between presence and absence, echoing the fragility of attention and the instability of perception.
Working within slow art, Randulv employs a twelve-step printing technique refined since 2021, combining analog photography with digital printing on self-prepared fabric. Each step of the work is executed by hand, including welding, grinding, and bending steel, deepening her connection to the materials and their symbolic meanings.
