Dilutions and
Infinitesimals

Opening Friday 29 April, 5.30pm

The exhibition Dilutions and Infinitesimals continues Sonya Lacey’s interest in printing histories, typography and the physical forms of communication. Utilising the obsolete process of letterpress printing, Dilutions reveals language as a flexible encounter–at first discrete or stable, yet liable to adaptation and change. For this project Lacey has created a new cast typeface based on a font designed by David Kindersley that was originally intended to be readable from a distance and at speed. Adjusting the alloy of the typeface letters, the softer metal will erode gradually, subtly deteriorating the letters with each use on the press.

Alongside Dilutions, Infinitesimals is a new video installation that is simultaneously presented at The Engine Room in Wellington and was shot primarily across two locations—a homeopath’s laboratory and inside one of the last remaining typecasting foundries in the world. An imagined narrative draws the two locations together when a cast typeface becomes the unanticipated origin of a homeopathic remedy. Within the installation a scenario is staged whereby a dilution of lead type is created and ingested according to homeopathic methods.

These dual projects, Dilutions and Infinitesimals, consider the reciprocal processes of natural degradation and remedy, the shifting of language across time and our morphing methods of communication.

Sonya Lacey works across various media including spoken word performance, video and sculpture. She recently relocated to Wellington from Auckland. Her work has been curated into programmes at institutions including Singapore Centre for Contemporary Art, London International Film Festival and the Govett Brewster Art Gallery. She is part of the two-person collaboration lightreading who have exhibited at Artspace, ST PAUL St Gallery, David Dale Gallery (Glasgow), Seoul Art Space (South Korea) and The Banff Centre (Canada).

Dilutions and Infinitesimals was realised with support from Creative New Zealand, Massey University, The Printing Museum and Naturo Pharm.