Matt Elson makes things that should not exist. His Infinity Boxes use mirrors, LEDs, and precise geometry to put endless space inside a finite object. You look into a box and see a galaxy, a corridor, a void that keeps going. He has been refining the form since the first one in 2012, through hundreds of iterations, and it now sits somewhere between a science experiment and a magic trick, which is exactly where he likes to work. The themes are perception versus reality, infinite space inside firm boundaries, and the plain mechanics of wonder.
Infinite space inside a finite box.
He trained as a painter at Pratt Institute, holds a Master's in Communications from the New York Institute of Technology, and is a graduate of the UCLA Anderson Executive Program. Before the boxes came a career at the dawn of computer graphics: he was an early pioneer at Symbolics Inc., the company that grew out of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, served as DreamWorks Animation's Artistic Liaison at the studio's founding, and helped Walt Disney Feature Animation make the leap from hand-drawn to computer animation. His pieces are in the Exploratorium in San Francisco, one of the world's great science-meets-art museums, and at Imago Gallery. More than 7 million people have seen his work.
Hopscotch San Antonio holds one Infinity Box from Elson's nine-piece Awakened Vision Series, part of the lineup since opening day in October 2020. It is built for two. You and someone else lean in, and the interior stretches away endlessly, LEDs bouncing between mirrors in patterns that shift as you move your head. The effect is shared wonder with a side of disorientation, and it is better with a companion, because you will want to confirm that the other person is seeing the same impossible thing.
The form is a contained universe, something you can hold in your hands or walk up to and lose yourself in. Seven million viewers later, the trick still works.
