Geometry of exile

Format: Performance
Sculptural elements: Ten plywood triangular sculptures
Year: 2016

Geometry of Exile embodies the artist's journey as an immigrant experiencing exile. The performance activates ten plywood triangular sculptures into shifting arrangements, mountains transforming into waves, and at times solid borders stretching from one end of the room to the other.

The pieces may only be moved by rolling them on their sides, occasionally standing them up through 180 degree rotations, and they may never overlap or stack. This constraint turns their travel into a constantly changing puzzle of voids and shadows. Each piece carries a reflective side and a black side, making the shifting landscape of negative space feel unsettled and spontaneous as it moves through the room. The artist is restricted to walking and standing only on the surface of the triangles, so the artist and the sculptures move the assemblage closer to the viewer together, each dependent on the other.

Related terms: Threshold · Solid/fluid

Related work: As Far As There Was Water Was All It Was (part of this performance series)