It is customary, during the childhood, that parents trace on the wall of the house small lines to measure the growth of children: an intimate and family gesture that becomes collective and symbolic in the installation of the Slovak artist Roman Ondák.
“Measuring the Universe” was made for the first time in 2007 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where visitors were invited to put themselves “on the wall”, while the staff marked a line above their head with the name and date of the visit.
View this post on Instagram
Over time these signs have overlapped, multiplied, thickened: they formed an irregular black band, similar to an abstract design, which now embraces the walls of the museum. There are now thousands of names written on the walls: a visual archive, a collective body.
View this post on Instagram
Installation is a constantly expanding project that directly involves the public, transforming visitors into co-authors. A simple gesture that becomes a powerful tool for reflection on time, presence, memory and shared space.
An installation that grows, changes skin, transforms. Which holds together order and spontaneity, contemplation and participation. A universe that is measured through human experience.
Don’t you want to lose our news?
