I saw Polarity, and I just wanted to let you know how great I think this work is. I went to see it this past weekend and Haskins surpassed my standards once again. I think the best part of his work, for me, is that it isn’t a passive experience. I, as a viewer, become part of the work and the work a part of me. The experience with Architecture of Light felt out of this world. I literally felt like I transcended out of earth into another dimension. The way the “architecture,” created by the light and fog, materialized in space made me shrink, move, and even feel claustrophobic at some points. Which is odd because there was literally nothing boxing me in but light. "
Ascension / Descension was by far my favorite art piece from this exhibit. As I traveled through space, I felt as though I was looking at different dimensions. I became so hyper aware of time and space. I noticed relationships and people more through different angles as if I could see them more clearly through the glass.
I went with my boyfriend, who had also experienced Haskins's PRESENCE exhibition with me last time, and he was as amazed as I was with the current exhibition. Experiencing the work with him was enhancing, because we were able to experience both internally and by observing the other person in the space externally. This was evidently important in Haskins’s Architecture of Light as well as the Ascension / Descension.
In Architecture of Light we would switch spots back and forth, seeing each others shadows and how our bodies altered the lights that seemed so tightly rigid, which was a very interesting experience. It played with the illusion of light as a material. In the infinity room, Ascension / Descension, it was important to see other people in the space because it was hard to view yourself since your reflection is directly above you and below you. As I watched (through the reflection above me) a little girl and her dad walking through the space, I felt like I was watching time, sort of like a memory or as if I was not there but could somehow still see them. It really was an otherworldly experience, something I couldn’t experience without being in that space.
Camila M., BFA in sculpture at Illinois State Univeristy