Karthik Pandain -- Before the Sun

Pandain's subject matter in his instillation is strongly symbolic of his interests and what inspires him to do art. When I first looked at the instillation, I nothing stirred me enough to see the inspiration behind it, I felt indifferent. Then, after the instillation was explained to me, and after reading about it afterwards, it became more and more beautiful. The instillation comprised of multiple pieces that made the instillation work together harmoniously. First, the base in the instillation was made of dirt, sand, and metal that was inspired by the Cahokia Mounds, which are Colombian Native American structures that Pandain studied, and is also significant in itself because the four corners of the structure are a path of the sun through the sky and faces the four cardinal directions, or like a compass- facing North, South, East, and West. In the mound stand two identical mirror-pane glass pillars filled with sand to hold the projectors that are in the pillars. The projectors show film that runs on a loop that is looped around the ceiling and is rubbed by twine so when the film is projected, the film has apparent scratches. The film itself is sixteen millimeters and shows footage of the sunrise and sunset of the apex of Monk's Mound, with added noise of an archeological work site. The films last about two minutes, and the film is supported by an archeological grid of a red twine that archeologists use to help map out findings.

The media Pandain uses is variable, but fits into the same category based on is inspiration and his interest in archeology. He uses twine for the archeological mapping grid on the ceiling with red twine, and also uses twine for scratching the surface of the film as it loops through the grid on the ceiling. For the base, he uses compacted dirt, sand, and metal. He also uses sand to fill the glass boxes to hold the projectors up. He also uses sixteen millimeter film.

Pandain uses form very accurately when it comes to his research and how he set up his instillation. The base represents the Cahokia Mounds that he researched in downtown Chicago, and is suppose to look like a mound, and the corners of the mound face the four cardinal directions, which in other words is supposed to be the directions of a compass, facing North, South, East, and West. This also correlates with the film and where the glass box pillars are set, because the footage is of a sunrise and a sunset, so the film footage is appropriately placed to where the cardinal directions are. color is used for the film, and the color of the red twine on the ceiling is very abrupt and in contrast to the white ceiling, and also supports the looping film that enters and exits the projectors in the glass pillars. The film is being supported by twine, thus the support of this creates friction by the film and the twine, creating a texture to the film and exposing scratches to the film, and making the film look antique, fitting with the archeological theme of the instillation. Light is used very well in this instillation because the projectors of the footage are the only source of light in the instillation, making the main focus the motion pictures.