Motive #10 (Eightfold)

‘Eightfold’ is made up of eight grey circular discs, each with a smaller circle removed. A bright orange sphere is suspended in the centre of the circular void, as a counterweight to the mass removed. Each of the discs is carried along circular paths, sometimes rapidly, sometimes languidly, spinning around its centre and around each other. The orange spheres chase each other like little planets propelled by invisible forces, moving apart and coming together again endlessly.
‘Eightfold’ refers to the structure of the Motive. It branches out, like a tree: from a single attachment point the work divides, divides and divides again. Producing an eightfold pattern of ‘arms’ that carry the planets. The lengths of the thinnest cables are tuned so that each disc travels on its own vertical plane, and the discs can never collide.
How the work moves, is determined by the lengths and thickness of the steel cables. The cables function as springs, that are wound and unwound as the elements move with respect to each other. As the discs slow down and speed up, energy is exchanged with other parts of the sculpture. Cables are tensing and relaxing and you will sometimes hear them shifting on their suspensions, like the rigging of a sailboat in the wind.
The sculpture is completed by the distorted shadows of the work, gliding across the floor and walls of the exhibition space. They are fleeting, temporary drawings, tracing the actions of the work in space.