Composition: The dual arrangement is defined by two core sculptures that repel the surrounding space: a highly polished stainless steel sphere and an irregular fourteen-sided polyhedron situated at approximately the same distance from it.
The changing surface texture and color of STARDUST addresses a key characteristic of the Corten steel used: the material’s suitability for outdoor use stems from a special treatment that promotes microbial corrosion—a theme the artist has explored for twenty years. The choice of material for STARDUST is thus based on the comparable underlying dynamic of “productive destruction,” a process that—to the best of current knowledge—is unique to our terrestrial, oxidizing environment.
Technique:
- SPECULUM MUNDI – Hand-polished stainless steel (assembled and welded).
- STARDUST – Preparation based on a proprietary 3D model derived from an electron microscope image; modeling, fabrication, cutting, welding, grinding, and chemical treatment.
Origin of Form STARDUST: The 3D model represents the three-dimensional completion of a two-dimensional electron microscope image of an extraterrestrial particle. The material in question is a silicon nitride grain (Si3N4)—composed of silicon and nitrogen—that was chemically separated from the Sahara 97166 meteorite. This meteorite is classified as an enstatite chondrite (enstatite chondrites constitute a rare class of primitive meteorites).
Content:
The sculpture group ∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE represents the first large-scale sculptural manifestation of a concept the artist has been developing since 2021 as part of her project ∆NIM∆.
- STARDUST is a larger-than-life, three-dimensional replica of a “presolar grain” model—an object previously known and accessible only through two-dimensional electron microscope imagery. The grain’s chemical composition reveals it to be a hard “space mineral” of extraterrestrial origin, representing the ordering principle of the “crystalline.”
- SPECULUM MUNDI by contrast, represents the inversion of that ordering principle: the principle of the “spherical”—where the spheres arrange themselves. Furthermore, the spherical form derives from a formal analogy linking numerous “monadic” shapes—ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic—that trace back to the “∆NIM∆” concept.
Project Context:
The context and progress of the ∆NIM∆ project are documented and updated on the website [https://sabinekacunko.com/amphitheatrum-mundi/anima] and on the ∆NIM∆ app website.
Comment
The sculptural group examines relationships between natural and cultural heritage as well as human health and habitat. The dual arrangement is characterized by two space-repelling core plastics: a highly polished stainless steel sphere (SPECULUM MUNDI) and an irregular polyhedron at approximately the same distance from it, executed as a sculpture made of Corten steel (ST∆RDUST). The arrangement primarily addresses the supposed bipolarity of “perfect” and “arbitrary” form, of “organic” and “mineral” and of “spherical” and “crystalline”. With a view to the inconcludable dialogue between SPECULUM MUNDI and ST∆RDUST, the context of meaning (self-) reflexively begins to be opened up to both analytic and synthetic approach.
On the formal and material level, addressed is the structural-historical relationship that the “spherical” and “crystalline” – represented by SPECULUM MUNDI and ST∆RDUST respectivelly – enter into in order to produce such a “miracle” as “growth”: the indentation in the ST∆RDUST is the only concave shape on this object, which shows that minerals like to use other minerals for their own growth, following a certain matrix or lattice order. SPECULUM MUNDI, on the other hand, represents the reversal of the principle of order – spheres arrange themselves. The use of two industrial materials treated in a complementary way (stainless steel and Corten steel) testifies to a “relational” artistic approach that rather questions than exclaims. Almost all properties of the two objects reflect – conceptually, materially, tactilely, optically, structurally, historically – their respective counterparts as “the alien” (ST∆RDUST is factually the model of an extraterrestrial particle): to be moved by the “alien” always means to allow a dynamic that sets a new, common course.
In contrast to the continuously progressing colorfulness of ST∆RDUST, SPECULUM MUNDI remains colorless, although itself reflecting all colors. The changing surface quality and color of the ST∆RDUST testifies to another essential property of the used Corten steel: This material is particularly suitable for outdoor use thanks to its special preparation, which promotes microbial corrosion – a subject that the artist has been dealing with for twenty years.
(This specific type of corrosion—microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC), which accounts for up to 40% of total steel corrosion in industrial settings—is deliberately employed here as a form of protection or “sealing”: microorganisms (primarily bacteria) that promote corrosion through their metabolic activities thus become a structural support for the sculpture, even though the future appearance of its surface color can only be predicted approximately. The main groups associated with MIC include sulfate-reducing bacteria and archaea, thiosulfate-reducing bacteria, acid-producing bacteria, iron-oxidizing bacteria, iron-reducing bacteria, nitrate-reducing bacteria, and methanogenic archaea.)
Aesthetic
The effect of the sculptural group is achieved through the interplay of volume, mass and weight: the concise form of the SPECULUM MUNDI is negated or “dissolved” to the maximum thanks to its highly polished, reflective surface, which also underlines a “disproportion” between its specific and optical weight . The SPECULUM MUNDI and ST∆RDUST, which are optically related to each other qua mirror and distance, de facto lead an “ordered” presentation of the sculptural group ad absurdum by means of a specific or determining perspective.
As an all-view, free-standing, ”walk-in” floor sculpture, ∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE dispenses with its own directness and therefore to a certain line of sight as well as to an “ideal” (Kabakov-like) course of an installation. Rather, it is “animated” by the attractive highlights and a changing repertoire of light and shadow play: The available light sources (day and night) set the plasticity and color of the materials used as well as their surface structure and – texture in scene: While the texture of the smooth, polished and “cold” sphere of SPECULUM MUNDI has highly ambivalent “haptic” qualities, the ST∆RDUST-polyhedron offers a varied play of light and shadow with the constant change between mostly convex shapes on the multitude of lines separating polygons.
∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE implies not least the generic (in)distinguishability of the terms “sculpture” (in the sense of “removing” hard material), “plastic” (in the sense of “applying” soft material), “object” (in the sense of its found character (“ready- made”, “objet trouv “) and “installation” (in the sense of its staged character). Externally, ST∆RDUST and SPECULUM MUNDI are two larger-than-life objects with a block-like effect that are treated in a complementary manner, but which enter into a series of relations – both with each other and with the chosen exhibition space. The assembled “assemblage” or “installation” in this way also fulfills the double function of “animating” and “being animated” in relation to its viewers, the surrounding space and the respective exhibition context.
Conceptual background
∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE belongs to the hybrid exhibition and mediation practice that ties in with the forms of public discourse developed by Sabine Kacunko since 2005. By linking art and design, sculpture and architecture as well as real and virtual space with natural and cultural heritage, ∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE takes place at the interface between museum and public space and essentially focuses on the relationship between natural and cultural heritage. It “animates” through its transformative aesthetics to a dynamic and also interactive, proactive perspective and stimulates discussion about the current and future challenges and solution models for a common behavior in dealing with natural and cultural resources. Formally, technically and stylistically, the sculptural arrangement points to the conceptual space between minimalism and maximalism when dealing with steel sculpture (i.a. Tony Smith’s “Wandering Rocks” / Richard Serra vs. Jeff Koons) but also more generally, when dealing with the traditions of artistic ( post-)modern.
∆NIM∆TED SCULPTURE was part of Sabine Kacunko´s project ∆NIM∆, which was supported by the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022 (IYBSSD2022).
