A line surrounds us, follows us at every point and with every step, draws and re-draws the boundary of our sight until it ultimately marks site - the furthest extent of our visual field. But this bounding circle, a skyline, known to us as horizon, is never fixed. Weather and light transform it further. Location and time determine view as much as our movement. The shifting horizon is what these optical instruments reveal. Each of the five horizonscopes, named for its operative effect, mechanizes one landscape phenomenon for a hand-held device that re-animates the landscape through the viewer’s participation. Let these scopes act as a manual for reading the Icelandic highland.
Lara Mehling