The Spectrascope

The gallery installation of The Spectrascope consists of a large scale projection of the image updating in real-time accompanied by the 'fear frequency'*.
This is an audio frequency of 19hz, which is just below the range of normal hearing (infrasound), but which has been linked to distorted vision (including spectral images), discomfort, and 'irrational' fear and has been found to be present at sites of apparently haunted locations. Introducing this frequency to the gallery invites the viewer to question whether the frequency itself is creating the disturbance or whether the site of haunting is creating the frequency.

Time becomes intrinsic to the work as the previous 76,800 seconds (just under a day) are displayed pixel by pixel within a continuously updating timelapse film, caught in a single frame. Poised between the still and the moving image, the lens and the pixel, the installation explores how images can be coded and decoded using both light and time as building blocks for the work. In The Spectrascope time is counted across the room from top left to bottom right in vertical lines.
* the fear frequency included in the StoryRooms and Haunted Media gallery installations only.
(source: www.susan-collins.net)