(Phot. Barbara Kubska)
Installation view, group exhibition Phantom curated by Marta Lisok, BWA Gallery, Katowice, 2016
Curated by Marta Lisok
Exhibited works:
With focus taken off the details, the rippling reality will come to the fore, 2016, textile (polyester), steel and marble tiles from the collection of the Silesian Museum in Katowice, 195 x 615 x 580 cm
With focus taken off the details, the rippling reality will come to the fore, 2016, pencil, ink on graph paper, 29,7 x 42 cm
Look more at the fragment of this floor, then squint.
In the centre there is a small 5×5 cm square. Starting from this point, the pattern used to spread in ripples onto the whole square-shaped building that housed the wedding hall. Now, in the place where the building used to be, there is nothing but an empty square. In the museum store room the remains of the marble floor boards rest on shelves. Put together, they would cover around 3×3 m. The floor used to be in a mirror-covered hall. It seemed to float in the gap between the floor and the wall.
Desperate to apprehend its geometrical order, I drew the pattern on graph paper. Lines made with a soft pencil kept missing the tiny squares. With its constant swelling and shrinking, this pattern fell into my mind.
The starting point is a square. A closed form. Yet I would like to leave the floor area. I want to draw the whole building. I want to feel this space and be able to touch it. So I grab some wire and shape it into a 30×30 cm square, and then I bend it here and there. The square outline develops into an irregular space that fits between the curved lines. Imagine that the shape that you are now holding in your hands gradually grows until it reaches ten times its original size. You can easily get inside and have a walk around. The metal lines delineate the area. This model allows you to practice converting flat space into three dimensions. It might come in useful when instead of places we have only flat photographs of them. Just like when the optical illusion of the flooring pattern is no longer reflected in mirrors.
Squint once more. With the focus taken off the details, the rippling reality will come to the fore.
In the centre there is a small 5×5 cm square. Starting from this point, the pattern used to spread in ripples onto the whole square-shaped building that housed the wedding hall. Now, in the place where the building used to be, there is nothing but an empty square. In the museum store room the remains of the marble floor boards rest on shelves. Put together, they would cover around 3×3 m. The floor used to be in a mirror-covered hall. It seemed to float in the gap between the floor and the wall.
Desperate to apprehend its geometrical order, I drew the pattern on graph paper. Lines made with a soft pencil kept missing the tiny squares. With its constant swelling and shrinking, this pattern fell into my mind.
The starting point is a square. A closed form. Yet I would like to leave the floor area. I want to draw the whole building. I want to feel this space and be able to touch it. So I grab some wire and shape it into a 30×30 cm square, and then I bend it here and there. The square outline develops into an irregular space that fits between the curved lines. Imagine that the shape that you are now holding in your hands gradually grows until it reaches ten times its original size. You can easily get inside and have a walk around. The metal lines delineate the area. This model allows you to practice converting flat space into three dimensions. It might come in useful when instead of places we have only flat photographs of them. Just like when the optical illusion of the flooring pattern is no longer reflected in mirrors.
Squint once more. With the focus taken off the details, the rippling reality will come to the fore.
Alicja Bielawska