The New York-based artist Zilvinas Kempinas has attained world-wide fame for his large-scale installations and dynamic sculptures of magnetic tape. His constructions take the form of ephemeral architectural elements, which may be static or dynamic and volumetric or planar.
The project Still, created by the artist for the Garage Center, is an installation consisting of countless strands of magnetic film. Hung around the perimeter of the hall, they form a gigantic composition of parabolic lines.
Kempinas’ art is intended to alter our sense of space and reveal the hidden qualities of our familiar world. Placed in a particular environment, the objects create unexpected visual effects that cause the space to begin to break up, move, and vibrate. It appears capricious, suddenly taking on a clear shape, then immediately losing it: upon gaining a structure, it disintegrates.
The primary categories of Kempinas’ art are volatility and ephemerality; words which can also be used to describe our reality. The world today is seen by us as fragmented and inconsistent, and the endless streams of information only reinforce our sense of disorientation. In Kempinas’ works, the magnetic tape does not convey anything specific, but immerses us in an atmosphere of visual intensity and abstract contemplation; wherein the viewer is free to find his or her own meaning and means of interpretation.