Overview
Alongside works entitled Entropy and Dark Matter, David Spriggs presented the large site-specific installation Axis of Power at Sharjah Biennial 9. The size of a cinema screen and based on the golden ratio, Axis of Power comprises multiple sheets of spray-painted transparent film, spaced and hung in front of one another.The visual depiction is one of a cyclone effect – like a scientific specimen, the power of nature appears to have been captured, isolated and objectified within the confines of the room’s architecture.
Viewed from the side, the form completely disappears and reveals only the thin membranes on which it is created. As David Spriggs describes, 'The form is not an illusion of something from nature but something in its own right, lying in a state of suspension, frozen in time, yet ephemeral-like in quality.'
Through our own movement we observe the interplay between two- and three-dimensions and are therefore situated within the relationship. In this way, Axis of Power also functions as a metaphor for power itself. The metaphor extends to the relationship between mankind and nature, and the illusionary sense of power that we believe we might hold over nature. Furthermore, the piece can also be understood to symbolise the environmental crisis that we currently face and the radical changes that may ensue.
Artist’s quotation from Provisions, Book 1, catalogue for Sharjah Biennial 9
March 2009
This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 9
Commissioned and produced by Sharjah Art Foundation
