Double Parallax is a new collaboration between Meng-Yu Yan and Anna May Kirk. Twin optical sculptures interplay glass, shadow and light to recreate a parallax effect. The work explores the historical use of the parallax – the changing perception of an object in relation to its background, based on the position and movement of a viewer. Double Parallax marks significant anniversaries of the discovery and measurement of the Flying Star, 61 Cygni, whose stellar parallax was measured for the first time to quantify the distance of the Earth within the vastness of the cosmos. Across deep time and cosmic distance, this sculptural installation aligns human and celestial bodies. Mimicking the form of eyes, lenses, telescopes and double stars, Yan and Kirk’s collaborative works explore a mirroring of the body as an object in, and containing, the infinitude of space.

Meng-Yu Yan and Anna May Kirk, Double Parallax, 2023, blown glass lenses, mild steel, brass enamel, light and stereo sound, approx. 5 minutes, image courtesy and © the artists. Photograph: Jacquie Manning