PROJECT DESCRIPTION

LEVITAS / GRAVITAS examines the relationship between lightness and heaviness, reflecting the tension between the monoliths’ apparent mass and their lightweight, mobile construction. The proposal extends this contrast from physical properties to perception, balancing playfulness and instability with monumentality and seriousness.

The installation consists of eight monolithic objects distributed throughout the room as a field of movable spatial figures. Each object is defined by a restrained exterior mass interrupted by precise oblique cuts. These cuts expose reflective interior surfaces, destabilizing the apparent solidity of each monolith. At a distance, the monoliths register as static masses. As one approaches, the mirrored cuts reveal fragmented and dynamic reflections of the space they inhabit, adjacent objects, and other occupants.

Each monolith is mounted on casters, allowing visitors to slowly push, rotate, and reposition it within the gallery. This mobility transforms the installation from a fixed composition into an adjustable spatial system. As the objects move, sight lines, circulation paths, reflections, and relationships between the monoliths continually change. The installation therefore positions the visitor as both observer and participant. Users encounter themselves, others, and the room through partial and unexpected reflections, producing momentary shifts in scale, orientation, and spatial awareness. The work alters perception through direct physical interaction rather than a prescribed sequence of viewing.

Fabricated from expanded polystyrene foam, the primary solids are shaped via robotic hot-wire processes and finished to project a continuous, massive exterior. Mirrored planes applied to the oblique incisions provide the requisite optical destabilization. By internally anchoring these ostensibly dense forms to concealed mobile platforms, the assembly subverts the apparent mass, preserving the lightweight tectonic logic necessary for the audience to actively reconfigure the spatial field.