Microworld No. 3
Liu Wei
刘韡
Production date
2020
Object Detail
Media
aluminium, glass, wood, polyethylene, LED lights
Measurements
474 x 688 x 537 cm
Notes
The third instalment in Liu Wei’s “Microworld” series (2018-2020), Microworld No. 3 is a large-scale sculpture made of aluminium sheets entwined to create a winding biomorphic form revolving around a central core and radiating outward. The materiality of aluminium situates the work between hard and soft, light and heavy – making it appear to be in constant flux, challenging the viewers reading of the work itself and the buildings / city scapes it represents.
The arcs and spheroids it describes as well as the skin-like texture of its surface, mark a continuation of the artist’s concerns with the body as a metaphor. A naturalistic sensibility contrasts with suggestions of the machine-made. Uniformly lit from above by LED lighting, the installation seems to represent a somewhat celestial process whereby giant molecules combine or separate themselves at random.Wei talks about the work in an emotional/relational way: “If my work in reality has meaning, then it has to do with how it is related to the occurrence of this reality. This relationship isn’t necessarily intrinsic or particularly profound, but it is more like me placing my hand against a wall…this relationship can already speak for itself, it is more powerful than what I could say about it.“
The work was first displayed at the artist’s solo exhibition ‘OVER’ at Long Museum, Shanghai in 2020. Sections were temporarily bolted together and it was only partly welded together.To ship to Australia, it was un-bolted and cut into manageable pieces. Here it was reassembled, fully welded to together, and the temporary brackets removed by Crawford’s Casting – Sydney’s main bronze casting studio. The display case was designed and fabricated in Australia according to the artist’s instructions.
The arcs and spheroids it describes as well as the skin-like texture of its surface, mark a continuation of the artist’s concerns with the body as a metaphor. A naturalistic sensibility contrasts with suggestions of the machine-made. Uniformly lit from above by LED lighting, the installation seems to represent a somewhat celestial process whereby giant molecules combine or separate themselves at random.Wei talks about the work in an emotional/relational way: “If my work in reality has meaning, then it has to do with how it is related to the occurrence of this reality. This relationship isn’t necessarily intrinsic or particularly profound, but it is more like me placing my hand against a wall…this relationship can already speak for itself, it is more powerful than what I could say about it.“
The work was first displayed at the artist’s solo exhibition ‘OVER’ at Long Museum, Shanghai in 2020. Sections were temporarily bolted together and it was only partly welded together.To ship to Australia, it was un-bolted and cut into manageable pieces. Here it was reassembled, fully welded to together, and the temporary brackets removed by Crawford’s Casting – Sydney’s main bronze casting studio. The display case was designed and fabricated in Australia according to the artist’s instructions.
Accession number
2020.226