CURATED BY James D. Campbell

Juan Geuer exhibits this summer, three high-precision scientific instruments in which lasers are used as a medium to question basic truths about science, art and our own lived reality.

The first work WiS (Water in Suspense) 1999, is one of the artist’s most acclaimed works. A single beam of light and a single drop of water captivate the viewer with the otherworldly magic created by their interaction.

The second work Strange Attractors 2004, is comprised simply of two pendulums — purely Nietzschean: one decorous Apollonian and one unruly Dionysian — which are poles apart but always interconnected.

The third work Trap 2004, uses a laser and the language of confinement to suggest forced incarceration and duress, unsettling the viewer and making complacency impossible. A laser measures the motions of the cell walls which are then transformed into interference patterns on the walls of our “trap”. The work speaks brilliantly to the times we live in.

In all these works, science is transformed into a highly poetic art.

Internationally exhibited Geuer is one of very few artists who have successfully married art and science. His work is notable for the way in which it creates beauty while making the viewer question and think.

A video by Montreal-based artist Sylvia Safdie titled simply Juan 2002, a moving portrait of Geuer, will be screened as part of the exhibition.