The Eye of Information

© the artist / Bridgeman Images. Image credit: University of Surrey

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This painting was commissioned by the University. Its aim was to realise an image which fused art and science and represented the intellectual life of the University. The overall structure was based on an image seen on a VDU in the Space Centre. At the moment the tracked satellite falls within a 'window' through which those monitoring it can communicate with it. What happens is that the scrambled horizontal lines which cross the screen open like the aperture of a camera to produce an eye-shaped void, through which the earth station can communicate with the hardware in space. Farthing says 'If the picture has an overall goal, it is that it should never become 'understood'. Its aim is to act as something that is passed, noted and perhaps a little part picked up on.

University of Surrey

Guildford

Title

The Eye of Information

Date

1999–2000

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 207.5 x W 303.5 cm

Accession number

282

Acquisition method

commissioned by the University, 2000

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

University of Surrey

Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH England

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