IMG 6987-001-195.5Arc x 14 (2)

Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, West Sussex.

195.5 Arc x 14 is a dynamic sculpture composed of two clusters of cor-ten steel beams that lean against each other for support like two old friends. This work is part of Bernar Venet’s arc series named after their mathematical composition. All fourteen beams are curved gracefully to the exact same angle of 195.5 degrees in a majestic act of balance. These fourteen curves create a rhythmic sculpture which appears both stable and precarious.

Their deceptively precarious appeal hides a happy accident. During transportation these monumental arcs were provisionally placed and Venet saw an opportunity in their momentary alignment, and thereby decided to create a new work. This example illustrates the sculptor’s intention to create compositions that are neither pre-meditated nor planned during the process of artistic production. Venet embraces the uncontrived geometric arrangements in his work, which he believes invite a certain element of chaos, what he calls the ‘collapse of the world’, whilst simultaneously providing focus on fundamental sculptural properties, such as density, mass, balance, form and the manipulation of positive and negative space.

Bernar Venet’s works are predominantly based on theories, which appear to be contradictory, but contextually align themselves in a complementary way. For instance 195.5 Arc x 14 is both dense and precariously angled, determined and non-determined. He sees these polarities as an analogy for how life, matter and nature organises itself according to opposing, yet complementary principles such as order and disorder.