Anish Kapoor

After Vertigo, a large sculpture by Anish Kapoor (Bombay, 1954) from 2008,  was purchased by De Pont in 2010, it was shown in a major retrospective at The Royal Academy in London, which then travelled to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Very recently the sculpture was part of Kapoor's first major exhibition his native India.

Now Vertigo will be on display at De Pont for the first time. In order to celebrate this event, the work will be presented along with a sizeable floor sculpture by Walter De Maria (Albany, California, 1935) from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.

Both sculptures are made of polished stainless steel. Vertigo consists of a single curved element measuring over two meters in height and nearly five meters in width. Walter De Maria's A Computer Which Will Solve Every Problem in the World, from 1984, is made up of seventy-five individual rods. Each rod is one meter in length; together they lie in a strict arrangement. Starting with a row of three rods, triangular in cross section, the sculpture ends with a row of twelve dodecagonal (twelve-sided) rods. The length of the rods determines the entire scale of the work. The rows are consistently placed at a distance of one meter from each other, the same distance with which the successive rows increase on one side.

The way in which light gleams on the polished metal makes the rods seem weightless. In Kapoor's Vertigo, too, reflection comprises an essential element.

The conception of sculpture on which these works are based constitutes another important link. Both sculptures function as concrete objects in the space. Walter De Maria belongs to the generation of artists who rejected, during the 1960s and 70s, the notion that an artwork should be the embodiment of an artist's independent vision. Kapoor has continued to develop this idea, using his art to bring about the active involvement of the viewer. Only by entering into a (physical) relationship with the artwork can we ever fully experience it. The same holds true for Walter De Maria's floor sculpture, which can only be grasped once we walk around it. The change in vantage point gives rise to new perspectives. Its arrangement is one of mathematical precision. Even so, the rows of rods take an unexpected turn.

Despite the parallels, the two sculptures differ immensely in character. Walter De Maria's floor sculpture takes possession of the space and keeps the viewer at a distance. Vertigo absorbs the space and confronts the visitor with an environment that has lost its stability.

In comparison to the contemplative aura of A Computer Which Will Solve Every Problem in the World, Kapoor' s Vertigo is more dramatic. In terms of atmosphere, though, these works do have one aspect in common: they show that a simple form can bring about an experience that is far from unambiguous, one that moreover goes beyond the merely visual.

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KünstlerInnen: Anish Kapoor