Axis Mundi: The Line and the Matter
2015 - ongoing, crushed ferrite magnets, rare earth magnets, steel, glass mirror. Ceiling to floor installation, dimensions variable.
Axis Mundi — studio detail, 2015
Axis Mundi — Dominik Mersch Gallery, 2021
Axis Mundi — The Lock-Up, 2019
Axis Mundi — Artspace, 2016
Axis Mundi — Gallery Funaki, 2015
Axis Mundi — Blacktown Arts Centre, 2015
Axis Mundi: The Line and the Matter is a sculptural installation that draws on the idea of the axis mundi, a vertical line understood across cultural and cosmological systems as a point of connection between earthly and celestial realms. In this work, a line is drawn through space using fragments of broken ceramic magnets, linking individual elements into a continuous vertical structure. Suspended between ceiling and floor, the work extends this axis through the architecture itself, situating the line within the spatial conditions of the site. The material is produced by crushing ferrite magnets into granular shards, transforming a solid, industrial object into a fragile substance with a diminished magnetic force. The work unfolds through the relationship between line and matter. The vertical axis is both constructed and contingent, held together through delicate points of connection. As the line extends, it tapers toward a single fragment, suggesting both the origin and limit of the form. A mirror extends the line beyond its physical limit, continuing the axis through reflection and displacing the point of termination. Across iterations, the work engages with the idea of the infinite line, understood as a continuum composed of discrete points. Here, that continuity is rendered material, assembled from fragments that hold together in tension, linking the conceptual axis to the physical properties of matter.