Broken Circle
300 pcs
Dimensions variable
2021

Broken Circle is a series of sculptures whose forms are derived from the shadows of a single spinning top produced from varying sources of light. To make the sculptures, the shadows of the original top were traced, digitally sculpted, and 3D-printed; the process was then repeated for a second generation of spinning tops, and so on. Each mutation of light and shadow created a different spinning top––some functional, others not––with which viewers are invited to play, an activity that is occasionally frustrated by their uneven outlines and wobbling, unstable centres. By producing a copy of a copy, the work questions how variation and difference might produce diversity. The work encourages visitors to play with it, by spinning the tops, and to consider the systems of power embedded in this kind of functionality. Ideas of originality, repetition, and purpose are all interwoven. Here, the politics of the game are obscured in the method of playing: each player must face the rules of the game themselves, as they try to keep each top spinning while preventing its unexpected collapse.

Photography:
Toni Hafkenscheid