Beyond Gravity: 8 Sculptures That Mock the Laws of Physics

Their creators skillfully used these laws

Around the World tells about several unusual sculptures worth seeing in Asia, America, Australia and Europe.

Planet, Mark Quinn

Singapore, 2008

Beyond Gravity: 8 Sculptures That Mock Laws physics

The birth of a new person is like the birth of a whole world. According to the artist, “Planet” is a paradox: heavy, but it seems weightless, huge, but creates a feeling of vulnerability. It is a reflection of ourselves and the land on which we live. The parameters of the bronze baby, as if floating in the air, are seven tons and ten meters in length.

British Mark Quinn was inspired by the birth of his own child, so this is a very personal work for the artist. And for Singaporeans it is a symbol of the birth of the country of the future.

Suspended, Menashe Kadishman

USA, Mountainville, 1977

Beyond gravity: 8 sculptures that taunt the laws of physics

How these massive steel blocks, covered with rust, are connected and due to what they hold together is incomprehensible even upon closer examination. There are no supporting supports. dynamics and tension. The viewer is confused. Israeli man Menashe Kadishman has been 'suspended' for 40 years defying gravity at the Storm King art center, a huge contemporary sculpture park an hour from Manhattan.

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Lucky Country, Norton Flavel

Australia, Perth, 2015

Beyond Gravity: 8 Sculptures That Mock the Laws of Physics

Lucky Country was presented at the annual Sculptures by the Sea exhibition on Cottesloe Beach. Six years before chaining a steel balloon, the author created Blastform, developing methods for forming metal using explosives and water pressure. After the exhibition, the mayor's office purchased a “lucky” art object for the city's public collection of sculptures.

Dla Pablo, Jerzy Kedziora

Poland, Krakow, 2014

Beyond gravity: 8 sculptures that taunt the laws of physics

“Girl on the ball” Picasso found a “sister” in the form of a girl on a hoop. Pole Kendzyora became famous for creating figures of gymnasts balancing on wires with one or two points of support. The “Between Water and Sky” series of nine such acrobats graced Father Bernatek's footbridge over the Vistula.

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Elephant, Daniel Firman

France, Fontainebleau, 2008

Beyond gravity: 8 sculptures that taunt the laws of physics

A life-sized elephant stands on the tip of its trunk; the elephant hangs in the air, touching the wall with its trunk; an elephant is suspended from the ceiling… Elephants, as the heaviest land animals, according to Firman, dream of the absence of gravity.

The phenomenon in which the concepts of top and bottom, horizontal and vertical are discounted, the artist calls “gravitational perturbation.” For the first time, an elephant named Wursa was presented at the Palace of Fontainebleau.

Porsche, Jerry Judah

Germany, Stuttgart, 2015

Three Porsche 911s soar in front of the brand's museum in Stuttgart. Real sports cars are equipped with internal steel beams that are attached to 25-meter supports. The author, a Briton of Indian origin, regularly creates installations for the Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​(UK).

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< h2>Dromeas, Kostas Varotsos

Greece, Athens, 1994

Beyond Gravity: 8 Sculptures That Mock the Laws of Physics

The 12-meter “Runner”, built from pieces of sheet glass, annually inspires marathon runners to a long run, reminding them at the same time and Phidippides, who brought the Athenians the news of the victory in the Battle of Marathon, and the first Olympic marathon champion Spyridon Louis.

“Ali and Nino”, Tamara Kvesitadze

Georgia, Batumi, 2007

Beyond gravity: 8 sculptures that taunt the laws of physics

Every 10 minutes, a seven-meter iron man and woman, romantically illuminated in the evenings, move towards each other, merge in a kiss and, having seeped through one another, disperse. The sculptor was inspired to do this work by Kurban Said's book Ali and Nino, written in 1937, about an Azerbaijani and a Georgian woman whose love sweeps away cultural and religious boundaries.

Photo: AFP/EAST NEWS, DESIGN PICS, AFP/EAST NEWS, GETTY IMAGES, AFP/EAST NEWS, ALAMY, PICTURE ALLIANCE/LEGION-MEDIA, EKATERINA CHESNOKOVA/RIA Novosti

Material published in the magazine “Vokrug sveta” No. 2, February 2019, partially updated in February 2023

Svyatoslav Zelensky

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