Sarah Sze – A Swiftly Tilting Planet
2.12 2006 – 18.2 2007
In 2006, Malmö Konsthall presented a unique site-specific installation by New York-based artist Sarah Sze, marking her first solo exhibition in the Nordic region. In the exhibition A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Sarah Sze explored the boundaries between art and everyday life.
The installation consisted of thousands of mass-produced objects – ranging from thumbtacks, yarn, and sheets of paper to ladders, plastic bottles, and desk fans. Many of the objects were sourced locally in Malmö, including exhibition catalogs and hotel soap boxes, and were assembled into a complex structure. It occupied the entire exhibition space, interacting seamlessly with the fixed architecture. A network of patterns, structures, and details created a dynamic movement through the room. Like a spontaneous organism, it overflowed, hovered, and filled the entire exhibition hall.
The materials Sze used were familiar and everyday. Islands of objects formed small worlds: green thumbtacks arranged as forests, taut yarn threads as roads, desk fans as winds, and desk lamps as streetlights.
Sze’s works, often described as a hybrid between sculpture and painting, invited a tactile and associative experience. Her meticulously constructed chaos evoked a sense of spontaneity and playfulness, while also prompting reflection on the significance of ordinary objects.
Sarah Sze, born in 1969 in Boston, is internationally acclaimed for her innovative installations. Before Malmö Konsthall, she had exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Venice Biennale, the Whitney Museum, and the ICA in London.
