Visual Oases in Exceedingly Distracted Times

Lothar Böttcher — New Works, 2026

: Cave in studio

: Echo Chamber

We spend our lives believing the shadows on the wall in our caves are the real thing. We don’t even want to go outside any more. Our attention is the currency. We spend it freely.

Light is information. Mass media has diverted our attention. I waste too many hours scrolling through a curated frame.

Pocket Lenses mimic the size and shape of smartphones — intentionally tactile, hand-held sculptures that are playful portals curated by your own hand. Each lens is individually carved from optical glass and has its own character.

Pocket Lens #1 is in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass.

My inquiry continues, searching for that conversation between light and eye, information and soul — sculptural portals, carved and polished optical monoliths, kinetically activated by your movement and perspective.

: Cave (detail)

: Echo Chamber (detail)

Cave and Echo Chamber

Cave and Echo Chamber draw you in — first you see through them, the space beyond. Then the nuances emerge — the play of light within, on the surface, inside the heavy optical mass of the Schott crystal. As you move, the image changes. A moment of wonderment. A discovery — not of the sculpture, but of yourself. They become alive, because you are.

Cave and Echo Chamber are my latest analogue devices. Visual oases in exceedingly distracted times.

Both works are available at Ebony Curated, Franschhoek.