Mediopassive I
Perceptual kinetic spacial sculpture, 2024
handmade paper, neodym magnets, aluminium powder coated
142 x 141 x 26 cm
Mediopassive I consist primarily of handmade paper and neodymium magnets.
The papers, which are completely empty and static, are nevertheless full of information and movement. Because they are handmade, each one is unique in its surface, deckle edges and blemishes, which paint with light and shadow. Within each paper for itself, as well as in their arrangement in relation to each other. But also in interaction with the light and shadows that surround them and that are created by the observer.
In their centres are round holes which become larger towards the middle and tell a story of something that has permeated them. If one moves past the horizontal work, an almost digital-like animation of the opening and closing of the holes is created in the area of the holes.
When the observer reaches the centres of the sculptures, he discovers two spherical neodymium magnets. They hold each other in position, resonating with gravity and the surrounding attraction and repulsion. Every movement in the environment transmits physical vibrations to the magnets. They are therefore always in a minimal pendulum motion, a resonance, within themselves, between each other and in reaction to their environment.
The inspiration for both works came from the following considerations: If we look at our history as humanity, co-operation is the ability that has made us successful so far. The cooperation between us as individuals and between different groups within society. But also the, until recently unavoidable, cooperation with nature and the world we live in. In present times, there are rapid digital development, AI, increasing individualisation and a nature being formed by us, resulting in climate change. Adaptability and flexibility seem to be the necessary core abilities, even the imperative, that we will need in a constantly changing future.
So is there a way to find a willingness to co-operate again in these times without giving up our freedoms completely? Something between power and powerlessness? Between throwing and being thrown? Is there something between active and passive?
In ancient Greek, Hebrew and Sanskrit, there are terms and descriptions that describe an ‘in-between’. This ‘in-between’ can be observed everywhere in nature, physics and even in quantum physics with its wave/particle dualism. The sociologist Hartmut Rosa took up these considerations and developed the concept of the ‘mediopassive’. A unity between active and passive, such as that created when dancing the tango. Only in the right balance between opening and closing does resonance arise.