Bootstrap Paradox
Mixed Media Interactive Installation
00
Problem
Bootstrap Paradox explores the perception of time and space through motion, reflection, and illusion. The work challenges our sense of cause and effect by creating a visual loop where the distinction between past and present dissolves, prompting viewers to question the linearity of time.
Bootstrap Paradox began as an exploration of how our minds perceive time — not as a steady, linear stream, but as something shaped by memory, movement, and repetition. I wanted to capture that unsettling moment when you can no longer tell which came first: the cause or the effect. The installation draws on the thought experiment of a “bootstrap paradox,” where an object or piece of information exists in a closed time loop, never having a true point of origin.
The design places a polished steel ball at the center of this paradox. The ball is anchored on a dial surrounded by hundreds of small acrylic blocks of different heights and shapes, arranged in deliberate disarray. As viewers rotate the dial, the ball appears to glide through this fragmented landscape, though in reality it stays completely still. Its mirrored surface reflects and distorts the shifting surroundings, tricking the eye into thinking the world is flowing around the ball, when it is actually the ball reflecting the movement of the dial beneath it.
This visual deception invites the viewer to question what is truly in motion: the ball or the world around it. Over time, the looping path begins to blur the distinction between past and present positions, evoking the feeling of being caught in a temporal loop. The space becomes both frozen and constantly changing, an echo of how our memories reshape the past as we move through time. Through this piece, I wanted to create an experience where space, time, and perception fold back on themselves — an endless cycle without a clear beginning or end.
Design Process
Concept Exploration
I began by studying paradoxical narratives from science fiction and physics, sketching initial concepts for a looping time mechanism. The idea emerged to use reflections to trick perception rather than actual motion.
Structural Planning
I mapped hundreds of rectangular modules inside a circular frame, carefully calculating their heights and angles to distort reflections consistently from any viewing angle. This layout became the foundation for the spatial illusion.
Prototyping and Construction
Each block was precisely cut from acrylic boards and fixed on a chevron base around the central axis. A stainless steel ball was placed to act as the reflective core, with LED lighting accentuating its mirrored surface to enhance the illusion of movement.
01
The close-up view highlights the central polished steel ball, surrounded by carefully arranged acrylic blocks and illuminated by delicate string lights. The reflective surface of the ball captures and distorts its surroundings, creating a mesmerizing interplay of light and shadow. This moment invites viewers to pause and consider the illusion of motion, reinforcing the installation’s exploration of time, perception, and the paradox of cause and effect.
02
Soft light spills across the fragmented white blocks city as the mirrored sphere anchors the scene in stillness. The reflections ripple and distort, making the static structure seem to shift and breathe. In this fleeting perspective, the boundary between motion and stillness blurs, evoking a sense of suspended time within the paradoxical space.
03
Seen from above, the installation transforms into a miniature world, where the white blocks resemble towering cityscapes arranged in a dense urban grid. The reflective sphere rests like a wandering planet at the edge of this constructed metropolis, while strands of light weave through the city, casting fleeting shadows across its rigid skyline. The stillness of the sphere against the motion of the glowing city evokes the tension between permanence and change, suggesting how time quietly reshapes even the most solid landscapes.
+
