Smoke and Mirrors Machine

Smoke and Mirrors Machine is a kinetic and digital installation that interprets the problem of secure communication between two parties and the ways that message exchange can be intercepted or subverted. Inside a cube, a laser is bounced between mirrors to generate an infinity symbol that only becomes visible when the space fills with smoke. The image resolves correctly from only two positions, so the work depends on controlled perspective, misdirection, and the viewer’s willingness to accept a coherent form that physically breaks apart from almost any other angle.

Trust in the work is always positional. What looks coherent from one place collapses from another, so security becomes inseparable from viewpoint, concealment, and error. That dependence on mediated seeing links the piece to May’s wider concern with unstable images and the gap between technical signals and human conviction.

Additional notes

• Inspired by questions around secure communication, including Alan Turing’s work on Enigma communications at Bletchley Park.
• The installation draws on the “Smoke and Mirrors Attack” described in Professor Bruce Christianson’s co-authored paper “Multichannel protocols to prevent relay attacks”.
• Built in partnership with Professor Bruce Christianson as part of May and Anna Dumitriu’s ongoing artistic residency at the University of Hertfordshire.
• Commissioned by the University of Hertfordshire.
• Format: laser sculpture.
• Size: 1.8m x 0.5m x 0.5m.
• Created for a specific context and not available for exhibition in another format.