The sudden appearance of a sealed white box in the atrium area of Dundee and Angus College’s Gardyne Campus has been fascinating staff, students and visitors.
Standing 8ft high by 8ft by 4ft wide, the mysterious chamber is featureless but for three enigmatic statements “my shroud; my shelter; my tomb”.
Those bold enough to peek through the spy holes are presented with the projected image of a shroud bearing the same motif, in a barren, sunless landscape.
This curious art installation is the work of Elise King, of Monifieth, who is studying for her BA design and creativity.
The 11 students on the course have been hanging their work for an assessment for a collaborative project but Elise’s piece is the only one which is on public view.
The project involved the students visiting secondary schools in Angus and asking pupils what they thought the future held for design.
Elise said: “The pupils’ responses were very interesting. We were impressed with how environmentally aware they were, with many of them linking design to climate change.
“This made me think about the Greenpeace activists who were recently imprisoned in Russia for highlighting the dangers of drilling beneath the polar ice caps and the number of ‘melt holes’ which were occurring on the Arctic ice.
“To add a Dundee dimension to this, I incorporated elements of Captain Scott’s journey to the South Pole, his tent becoming his shelter, his tomb and his shroud.”
Elise made the shroud herself and embroidered the pattern of Scott’s sweater along the hem.
In keeping with this idea she opted to create an image using light projection which can only be seen when there is no sunlight hence the sealed chamber.