Man of parts: Conrad Shawcross’ new ‘crazy machine’ spins into St Pancras International. By Nick Compton
The British artist Conrad Shawcross has a thing about harmony. And not some woolly idea of beauty in balance but harmony proper; the harmony of mathematical ratios and Pythagorean intervals, of chords, secret and otherwise. He sees this harmony, or rather finds it, with a sort of engineered synaesthesia, in the strange machines he invents or in particular swoops and curves he creates; in mostly large-scale, complex sculptures, often with moving parts that follow elegant, elliptical ways and paths generated, in part, by beautiful numbers. ‘The brain is activated by notes or certain chords in a way it isn’t by dissonance or discordancy,’ says Shawcross. ‘It triggers emotion and thought and enquiry. So I’m just using these ancient harmonies and transmogrifying them into ratios through machines to see what happens.’
Image: Zed Nelson
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: 44 (0)20 7336 8109
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Closed: Sunday, Monday, Bank Holiday Weekends, Public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
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Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, Bank Holiday Weekends, Public holidays
Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 1pm & 2 - 6pm
Closed: Sunday, Public holidays
534 West 24th Street
New York, NY 10011, USA
t: +1 (212) 229 2400
16 Wharf Road
London N1 7RW
t: 44 (0)20 7336 8109
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Closed: Sunday, Monday, Bank Holiday Weekends, Public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 6pm
Monday: By appointment
Closed: Sunday, Bank Holiday Weekends, Public holidays
Il Capricorno, San Marco 1994,
30124 Venice, Italy
t: +39 041 523 3799
Tuesday - Saturday: 10am - 1pm & 2 - 6pm
Closed: Sunday, Public holidays
14 St George Street
London W1S 1FE
t: 44 (0)20 3205 8910
info@victoria-miro.com
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London: Tuesday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
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