A continuous surface slips through the room, connecting every opening and quietly turning the space inside out. Views that would normally belong to the exterior appear folded inward, while the interior becomes perceptible from outside its physical boundary. The installation offers access to space through reflection and geometry rather than direct movement.

pAlice is a site-specific installation created for the group exhibition system:system at St. Cecilia’s Convent. The work links windows, doors, and apertures into a single topological surface, stitching them together into a unified form. From within the room, the surface provides references to the exterior without allowing physical access. From outside, viewers can peer into the surface itself, encountering an abstracted space that represents an average of the room’s openings rather than the room itself.

The project’s name refers to the concept of an “Alice universe,” a topological condition in which at least two distinct paths connect any two points. If one path is understood as a conventional spatial connection, another must exist as a non-orientable or wormhole-like route. This idea of doubled connectivity informs how pAlice allows space to be perceived simultaneously from multiple, incompatible positions.

Although the form approximates a precise geometric object, its interior surface is deliberately camouflaged. Clad entirely in mirrored panels, the structure reflects the interior of the room back onto itself, surprising visitors from the single accessible threshold where the room is entered. From this position, the object absorbs the room’s color, texture, and light, completing itself visually by borrowing from the space it inhabits rather than revealing its own boundaries.

Through reflection, inversion, and continuity, pAlice destabilizes conventional spatial relationships. The installation collapses distinctions between inside and outside, object and environment, surface and volume. What remains is a spatial paradox—one that can be seen and contemplated but never fully entered—inviting viewers to reconsider how space can be connected, averaged, and reimagined through form.

Find out more about the process:
Surface assembly with clips
Photos of the installation

Photos: Alan Tansey