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SUM

Motorized kinetic sculpture, 2014

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Bioluminiscent algea, moss, stainless steel, steel, glass

215 x 235 x 200 cm

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The title SUM refers both to the Latin sum – “I am” – and to the English sum – the “total.” The work moves between these two poles: the individual and the whole, being and system.

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Three gimbal-mounted rings, nested within one another in different sizes, form the structural core. Only the outermost ring is driven by a motor; the inner rings follow through shear forces, responding independently – a chain of cause and effect, of control and self-organization.

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The rings are covered with Hygrolon, a synthetic textile designed to distribute water evenly and enable plants to root where life would otherwise not take hold. On it grows moss – one of the oldest and most resilient plant systems on Earth. It can survive where others cannot: in drought, darkness, or cold – entering a dormant state until conditions allow it to awaken again.

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At the center, a glass sphere hovers, likewise mounted on gimbals. Inside, water holds bioluminescent algae – dinoflagellates. As the rings move, they set the water in motion, causing the algae to emit light – a reaction to movement, to touch, to life itself.

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SUM thus connects the mechanical with the organic, the technological with the elemental. The work becomes both cycle and body – a visible metaphor for the interplay of energy, matter, and consciousness. Each rotation creates resonance, each motion a new constellation. What begins as a machine becomes a breathing system – more than just the sum of its parts.