Opening to the public on 18 October 2018, the new Comcast Technology Center building, designed by Foster + Partners, in Philadelphia, features a major site-specific sculpture by the artist. Titled Exploded Paradigm, 2018, it is Shawcross' largest Paradigm work to date. The work occupies the lobby of the building, where its complex mirrored surfaces enhance the visitor's experience of the surrounding architecture.
The Paradigms are an ongoing exploration of the tetrahedron – geometrically a four-sided non-tessellating form and conceptually the symbol of an indivisible unit of
matter. As a building block, the tetrahedron behaves as an irrational number, creating sequences that in theory, extend into infinity without repetition. The title of the works refers to the notion of the paradigm shift – a leap of imagination that jolts scientific enquiry forwards and collapses pre-existing notions of what is true – identified by the
American physicist and philosopher Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996).
Read a report in Philadelphia Magazine
Image: Exploded Paradigm, 2018
Photography: Chuck Choi
