In Boundaries of Consumption two metal balls move unpredictably on top of a stack of film cans. Their choreography is documented by two restless shadows contrasted with a colored film strip projected onto the wall. The celluloid passes through the pile of cans, randomly lifting and destabilizing it. Within the interplay between instability and balance, the projector illuminates the balls and causes their movement and thereby exists as phenomenon and idea simultaneously. A tension builds between all the constitutive elements of the sculpture—somewhere in between a balancing act and a magic trick, the two balls morph into one and become two again in the projection.
Boundaries of Consumption, 2012
16mm film, modified projector, film cans, 2 metal spheres
Image 1: Installation view at Albertinum Dresden, 2015. Photo: Oliver Killig © Rosa Barba
Image 2: Installation view at Albertinum Dresden, 2015. Photo: Bernd Borchardt © Rosa Barba
Boundaries of Consumption has been on display at the following locations:
SFMOMA, San Francisco, 2023
Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2021