Issue Seven

Event Horizon

Editorial

Lost Horizon

Edward Colless

The horizon is the sum of all vanishing points, at least all those within the span or range of any fixed perspective onto the world. That sum is a monument of infinite scale, no matter how narrow the viewpoint, how partial or limited its focus is. Any small segment of the horizon line will contain an infinitude of vanishing points equal to the infinitude of points in the entire 360 degree sweep of the world’s circumference. The horizon says: that difference doesn’t matter. From this angle, the horizon is an arc of values that could be written in a trivial—because it is ultimately meaningless or of little value—sigma notation: the sum of all points on or any segment of the horizon, 1 to n, will be equal to the sum 1 to n±1. (Infinity plus or minus 1 still equals infinity.) Less trivially, because the horizon is also the border, orbit or compass of a viewpoint, it’s also the last appearance of the world before it drops out of view. The last appearance of something, whether at the scale of the world or of a vista onto it, indexes its disappearance.

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