Slow Arc Inside a Cube XI

Light sculpture

Conrad Shawcross is a very important figure in the Magic Megève project. His work is spread across the entire chalet, from the doors, to the lights in the spa and the skiroom. This artist’s work could be considered the leitmotif, the fil rouge in Magic Megève.
Conrad Shawcross’ sculptures explore subjects that lie on the borders of geometry and philosophy, physics and metaphysics. Different technologies and natural forces inspire his forms, but his mysterious machines and structures remain enigmatic, filled with paradox and wonder. Some have an absurdist melancholy feel, whilst others tend to the sublime.
Slow Arc is part of the series of caged light works and is the first time the artist has used a pair of lights inside the cage rather than one. This binary system creates a double projection of shadows on the walls of the space. The point sources move to and from each other in a slow methodical cycle: diverging, converging; accelerating, decelerating. Previously the single light works created misbalance and flux, the cage acting as a lens to distort the room. However, this new work creates a sense of harmony and balance, each light seemingly counteracting the other. The work’s origins and inspiration come from a quotation the artist discovered in the Science Museum London by the scientist Dorothy Hodgkin whom pioneered the process of crystal radiography in the 1950s. She described this process as being like trying to work out the structure of a tree from seeing only its shadow.