IMPACT

1st prize in the art-in-architecture competition held by the Saxon State Office for Real Estate and Construction Management (SIB).

Crystal structures in metals are never perfect. Yet apparent defects such as dislocations and irregularities increase the stability of a material. The sculpture IMPACT takes up this idea artistically. Stainless steel tubes of different lengths, welded together at irregular angles, combine to form an imaginary cone, open at the top and tilted at an angle, whose tip seems to bore into the ground.

The focus of the cone downwards and into the massive base suggests the line of sight of an electron microscope “zooming” deep into matter. The form is equally symbolic of the focused optical beam and of the inquiring mind striving for depth. The empty space enclosed by the cone underlines the significance of the space between quantum particles and of emptiness as an essential part of every form and of all material.