MARION MOSKOWITZ

This sculpture is part of a series of sculptures and installations inspired by the engraving of Albrecht Durer Melencolia I.

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In the engraving, Durer wanted to highlight the importance of mathematics and science as universal perfection, so he wrote in stone a number’s square. All the lines, columns, diagonals, each of the quadrants, the central four number in the square, the numbers of the 4 square's corners, the four outer numbers ... amount to the sum of 34.

 

It's a magical square and in Dürer’s era, it's used as a talisman to ward off the devil. This amazing mathematical symbol is reused here in a square of personal scales; the balance of our time. They weigh small heaps of black sand, and yet they do not show the right weight. They're manipulated to recreate Durer's magical square.