Recording The Gateway’s Independently Moving Infinity Mirrors as One Illuminated Array

Record The Gateway by keeping the illuminated array together in an overview, then tracking individual mirror orientations in successive sketches. Preserve the relationship between each moving face and its repeated light.

For a reader making a written and drawn visual record, the central task is to show how separately moving units remain parts of one artwork. A useful record needs an overall composition, enough detail to distinguish mirror faces from reflections, and an ordered account of the changes actually visible.

Which artwork is The Gateway?

The Gateway is a kinetic sculpture by OK Design. TIAT’s exhibition listing pairs that title with “OkDesign (Andrew + Ben),” while the studio’s own website identifies its two members as Andrew Kotite and Ben Mathia. These references establish the artwork’s identity without requiring an interpretation of its title. TIAT exhibition listing (https://www.tiat.place/); OK Design (https://www.okdesignsf.com/).

In a public account of the build, the maker account OK_Design_SF describes The Gateway as an array of 91 independently actuated infinity mirrors illuminated by nearly 11,000 LEDs. The same account explains that individual mirrors tilt along two axes. This establishes a specific recording problem: many separately orientable mirror units belong to one illuminated assembly. OK Design’s first-person build account (https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalEngineering/comments/1rz797u/we_built_a_kinetic_sculpture_with_91/).

Keep those documented facts separate from the particular view being recorded. The total number of units does not establish how many are visible from one position, and independent actuation does not establish the order, speed or coordination of a particular passage. The supplied scene establishes independently moving infinity-mirror units within one illuminated array; it supplies no exact outer contour, unit shape, color sequence or complete movement cycle. Those details must come from the view itself.

How do you preserve the whole array while recording separate units?

Begin with a light outline of the array’s visible extent. Place its top, bottom and side limits before working on any interior reflection. This first drawing gives every later detail a location within the same composition. If an edge is cropped or indistinct, mark that condition instead of completing an assumed outline.

Next, establish the units’ visible arrangement. Record the shapes of their boundaries, their relative sizes, the spaces between them and any overlap. Preserve the arrangement you can see rather than converting it into a tidier grid. A published unit count is useful identification information, but it should not become a reason to manufacture unseen rows or fill uncertain gaps.

Use a few units as reference points for the rest of the drawing. For example, label three clearly distinguishable units A, B and C in the margin and use those labels consistently in later sketches. This is an illustrative drawing convention, not a claim about the artwork’s layout. Choose units you can reliably relocate through the visible sequence.

Keep the main overview large enough for those relationships to remain legible. A separate detail study can explain one infinity mirror, but the overview should still show where that detail belongs. Otherwise, an accurate drawing of one unit may leave the central feature of this scene—the relationship among independently moving units—unrecorded.

A practical order is:

1. Mark the visible extent of the complete array.

2. Establish the arrangement and spacing of identifiable units.

3. Draw their visible face orientations at one selected moment.

4. Add repeated light within those boundaries.

5. Put movement notes beside the relevant units or in subsequent panels.

How should infinity-mirror depth be drawn?

An infinity mirror produces repeated images through reflection. Simon Fraser University’s demonstration describes light reflecting between two mirrors, with one partially reflective surface allowing the repeated LED images to be seen. Its explanation concerns a demonstration apparatus, so it provides an optical reference rather than a specification for The Gateway’s construction. SFU, “6A10.45 Infinity Mirror (Parallel Mirrors)” (https://www.sfu.ca/physics/demos/demos-experiments/infinity-mirror-surrey.html).

For the visual record, distinguish the boundary of a physical unit from the repetitions visible inside it. First draw the face boundary; then place the observed light repetitions within it. This makes the material relationship readable: a bounded mirror unit contains an appearance of depth. Avoid turning each repeated image into another physical mirror attached behind the array.

The Exploratorium’s “Look Into Infinity” describes successive reflections becoming smaller and dimmer. That supports using decreasing size and brightness when those differences are visible in the scene. It does not establish the exact appearance of every unit in The Gateway. Exploratorium, “Look Into Infinity” (https://annex.exploratorium.edu/xref/exhibits/look_into_infinity.html).

As an illustrative drawing choice, a monochrome study might use a clear outer boundary and progressively lighter interior marks. The number and shape of those marks should follow what can actually be distinguished. If the interior resolves only as a bright patch, record that limited visibility in a note rather than adding an elaborate tunnel.

Treat illumination with the same care. Record where light is visible, how it relates to the unit boundaries and which repetitions remain distinguishable. Include color only where it is known. The presence of LEDs alone does not supply a changing palette, a pulse, a surrounding glow or a lighting sequence.

How do you show independent movement without losing the sequence?

Use successive panels with a consistent view of the array. The aim is to make changes in individual units comparable from one panel to the next. Preserve the crop and the locations of identifiable units as closely as the available view permits. If the viewpoint changes, label that change so it does not become confused with movement of the artwork.

Storyboarding offers a useful recording convention here. ACMI explains how panels communicate composition and action, and how arrows can indicate object movement separately from camera movement. Applying those conventions to this scene is a drawing method derived from that guidance; ACMI does not document The Gateway. ACMI, “Storyboards” (https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/film-it-storyboards/).

Start each panel by locating the same reference units. Draw their current visible face orientations, then add brief notes about the transition from the preceding panel. An arrow should describe a movement you can identify. Place it beside the relevant face and label it when its meaning could be ambiguous. A single arrow across the array is appropriate only if the observed passage supports that collective description.

Distinguish orientation from motion. One still view can show neighboring faces at different angles; it cannot, by itself, establish which face moved first or where it will move next. When only one state is available, describe the visible orientation differences and leave the movement order unspecified.

The following is an illustrative notation example, not a reported sequence from The Gateway:

• Panel 1 establishes units A, B and C within the overview.

• Panel 2 shows A at a changed orientation; B and C have no discernible orientation change.

• Panel 3 shows B at a changed orientation; A remains as drawn in panel 2.

• The accompanying note records that these selected panels do not establish what happened between them.

For an actual sequence, retain every discernible change that affects the account: a unit beginning to tilt, changing direction, pausing, or returning to an earlier visible orientation. Include these events only when observed. Choose panels at those meaningful transitions, and use notes for intervening movement that a still sketch cannot express.

Do not call the passage a complete cycle unless its recurrence is visible. Returning to a similar overall arrangement may leave individual units in different states. If the sequence stops before the next change, end the record there and identify it as a partial passage.

How can you separate face movement from changing reflected light?

Track two things independently for each reference unit: the visible face boundary and the light pattern inside it. Compare both across the same panels. This gives you a concrete way to describe change without assigning an unseen cause.

If the boundary changes orientation, record that orientation change. If the boundary appears unchanged while the interior looks different, describe the interior difference as observed. If both change, retain both observations. Where the boundary is unclear, mark the uncertainty rather than deciding that all visible change must be mechanical movement.

Keep timing equally precise. Use elapsed times only when they are available from a recording or direct measurement. Otherwise, use ordered terms such as “first,” “next” and “later.” Evenly spaced panels on a page should not imply evenly spaced moments unless that timing is known.

A short caption can carry the distinction clearly. An illustrative example would be: “Unit A’s face changes orientation between the first and second panels; its interior light repetitions also become less distinct.” That sentence records two visible changes without inventing image contents or explaining the internal mechanism.

What should the finished visual record contain?

Assemble the record around one overview and its associated sequence. Add a unit detail only when it clarifies a material or optical relationship that becomes too small in the overview. Keep identification information in a short caption, separate from observations about the particular passage.

Before finishing, check these specific relationships:

• The overview retains the array’s visible extent and arrangement.

• Separate mirror units remain distinguishable within the illuminated whole.

• Face boundaries are distinguishable from repeated images inside them.

• Reference labels identify the same units throughout the sequence.

• Movement arrows and captions agree with the changes shown.

• Unknown edges, timing and intervening states remain identified as unknown.

The finished record should let a reader locate a unit, follow its visible changes and place it back within the complete illuminated array. Preserve that continuity from overview to detail to sequence, and stop each description where the available view stops.

Sources

• The intersection of art & technology — TIAT (https://www.tiat.place/)

• OK Design (https://www.okdesignsf.com/)

• We built a kinetic sculpture with 91 independently actuated infinity mirrors!!! — OK_Design_SF (https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalEngineering/comments/1rz797u/we_built_a_kinetic_sculpture_with_91/)

• 6A10.45 Infinity Mirror (Parallel Mirrors) — Simon Fraser University (https://www.sfu.ca/physics/demos/demos-experiments/infinity-mirror-surrey.html)

• Look Into Infinity — Exploratorium (https://annex.exploratorium.edu/xref/exhibits/look_into_infinity.html)

• Storyboards — ACMI (https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/film-it-storyboards/)