Artwork
Nexus Architecture x 50 Intervention Köln
Lucy Orta, 2001
- Ref: 2005
- Materials: Original Lamda colour photograph, laminated on Dibon (ed. 7)
- Dimensions: 150x120cm
- Catalogued: p24 Phaidon Press, UK 2002
- Exhibition history: 2001 USF Contemporay Art Musem Tampa, USA
- Concept: Conceived as a process that forges the possibility of collective action and collaboration into a combined force, the various emanations of Orta’s Nexus Architecture lead inwards towards a renewed level of social activism. As a series of interdependent sculptures, they manifest themselves as the result of a personal decision of the artist to re-enter a community structure as an act of liberty, which investigates the power of solidarity, through the symbolism of linkage. Whether within the confines of the Cartier Foundation in Paris, France, or through the bringing together of members drawn from the Usindiso Women’s Shelter at the Johannesburg Biennale or citizens on the streets of our cities, Orta’s Body Sculptures take on a social pertinence far beyond the parameters of a casual performance. Through a series of people dressed in out-landish, post-atomic, even pre-apocalyptic overalls, we witness the birth of a new multi-faceted, multi-limbed formation numbering upwards of 100 people joined together in a single human chain, sharing a common space. Mark Sanders
