PARADOX PILE (2023)
The group of sculptures forming Paradox Pile are reminiscent of trophies - congratulatory relics - but seen from a distant future. The collection is a reflection on our civilization with its relentless drive to innovate, create, and mass produce. These works, like architectural towers express ambition, attempting to reach higher and higher despite being precarious. Starting off from a small foot print, they project ingenuity but also a sense of hubris. They are built without caution and pragmatic restraint.
At closer look, these structures are delicate balancing acts, on the verge of toppling over, and to disintegrate into fragments. They are modular in nature, with individual sections barely holding together by using magnets. If pushed even gently, they come apart, with gravity taking over, and will crash and shatter.
The works title points to their ephemerality, and imbalance is designed into them, imbuing them with an aura of the irregular and haphazard. The sculptures are bound to decay, to degrade, changing over time, requiring maintenance, they are participatory. Repairs begin as part of the building process. The assembly of elements comprising each tower is first improvisatory, and then tweaked to refine weight distribution. That all being said, these structures are stable enough and, short of an earthquake, will only fail if meddled with by a human (or a pet). Come to think of it, these works would make for effective early warning earthquake sensors :).
The group of sculptures forming Paradox Pile are reminiscent of trophies - congratulatory relics - but seen from a distant future. The collection is a reflection on our civilization with its relentless drive to innovate, create, and mass produce. These works, like architectural towers express ambition, attempting to reach higher and higher despite being precarious. Starting off from a small foot print, they project ingenuity but also a sense of hubris. They are built without caution and pragmatic restraint.
At closer look, these structures are delicate balancing acts, on the verge of toppling over, and to disintegrate into fragments. They are modular in nature, with individual sections barely holding together by using magnets. If pushed even gently, they come apart, with gravity taking over, and will crash and shatter.
The works title points to their ephemerality, and imbalance is designed into them, imbuing them with an aura of the irregular and haphazard. The sculptures are bound to decay, to degrade, changing over time, requiring maintenance, they are participatory. Repairs begin as part of the building process. The assembly of elements comprising each tower is first improvisatory, and then tweaked to refine weight distribution. That all being said, these structures are stable enough and, short of an earthquake, will only fail if meddled with by a human (or a pet). Come to think of it, these works would make for effective early warning earthquake sensors :).
