''Parapivot'' is a commissioned installation by

Alicja Kwade Alicja Kwade (born 1979) is a Polish-German contemporary visual artist. Her sculptures and installations focus on the subjectivity of time and space. Kwade lives and works in Berlin. Early life and education Kwade was born in the industrial cit ...

at the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. The installation consists of two sculptures, ''Parapivot I'' and ''Parapivot II'', each consisting of multiple steel frames which hold polished stone balls.

Description

Across the two pieces, there are nine balls, each made of marble and granite, sourced from nine different countries, including

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Each of the balls, one of which weighs , is intended to signify one of the nine planets of the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

. The balls are held in place by supports in the steel frames. The installation is similar to '' We Come in Peace'', the preceding installation by

Huma Bhabha Huma Bhabha (born 1962) is a Pakistanis, Pakistani-American Sculpture, sculptor based in Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie, New York. Known for her uniquely grotesque, figurative forms that often appear dissected or dismembered, Bhabha often u ...

, in that they both relate to

outer space Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...

. Alicja Kwade said that the skyscrapers in the landscape behind the installation were representative of capitalism and compared the associated people to gods. She said that the art was intended to "put planets on top of hese people. She also said that the installation was meant to evoke thinking about the nature of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Kelly Baum said that Kwade was chosen for the commission because her work engaged with science, especially

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

and illusionism. Initially, the Met wanted Kwade to produce an item similar to '' WeltenLinie'' for the commission.

Critical response

Taylor Dafoe of

Artnet News Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

observed that Kwade's work was informed by "cosmic clarity" and "worldly wonder". Dafoe also noted that the sculptures were reminiscent of kinetic art, despite not having any moving parts. Zachary Small for ''

Hyperallergic ''Hyperallergic'' is an online arts magazine, based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by the art critic Hrag Vartanian and his husband Veken Gueyikian in October 2009, the site describes itself as a "forum for serious, playful, and radical thinking ...

'' wrote that in the installation, Kwade captured "the universe’s unfathomable scope into a few frames" and engaged the tensions between art and science, as they relate to "objective truth". Jason Farago of ''The New York Times'' said, "Her sculpture makes use of optical tricks and careful positioning to evoke the instability, and the unknowability, of our place in the world." He also wrote that the two sculptures engage flawlessly with the landscape of New York City and synthesize "sculpture, city and universe".

Description

Critical response

References

Further reading