5CB

With a title derived from the liquid crystals used in common-place screens, 5CB reduces LCD screen technology to the fundamentals of light, energy and space to create a suspended glass surface animated by flowing visual patterns of electricity.

By hand-making liquid crystal (LCD) pixels to create sculptural screens, the artwork reveals a rare beauty in the fleeting exchange of energy, light and shadow at the foundation of the digital aesthetic. Undertaking a would-be mechanised fabrication process to make hundreds of liquid crystal pixels by hand, the artwork highlights the elaborated manufacturing processes and excessive labour required to produce technological devices that will eventually be discarded.

Funded by Arts Council England and AN Artists Network.

ITO glass, polarizers, 5CB liquid crystal molecules, cables, copper, aluminium.

2024