Page 13 - Art First: Karel Nel: Observe

represent present but not evident. A history of making is infolded into
these stacked images. Though physically present, but not accessible to
the eye, they nevertheless represent a sustained effort to capture chang-
es of state and perception, not to mention a sustained grappling with
the knowledge we are gifted through the technologies of the like of the
Hubble telescope (5), the Subaru telescope on the volcanic rim of Mount
Mauna kea on the big island of Hawaii (6), or the uncanny retinal dish
5 6 of the telescope, set into the mountain forest in Arecibo, Puerto Rico (7).
In the old Helsinki Observatory – and in contemporary telescopes
such as the Subaru and James Clark Maxwell telescopes, both on Mauna
kea – the humans who work with the telescopes need ladders to be able
to direct and take advantage of the optical machinery they have built (8).
7
These ladders are practical and, for Nel, symbolic. The ladders drawn
in Stepping up to the speed of light and Ladder of lights are to be found
at the Helsinki Observatory. The more complex ladder is crafted in such
a way that the seeker after the new can sit to take in the wonders of the
universe, and draw out a flat surface where a book can be placed and
notes made. The high-key colouring, reminiscent of the visual spectrum,
also suggests that the plain wooden set of steps is a prismic ladder, a
8 ladder for searching for the truth as best one can understand it, given the
limits of perception and the hidden hues of light. Looking with intent is
aspirational – and looking upward and outward is to strain toward infin-
ity, to look for what is beyond our ken.
The interiors of the upper storey of the Helsinki Observatory need to
allow access by means of a staircase curving up from below, but also
Ladder of lights detail require a flat floor so that the astronomers could move unimpeded in

11