The work was built in the “Garden of sculpture" in Thessaloniki in March of 2018, after the outcome of an open call competition held in 2016, in which it won the first prize. The theme of the competition was “The limit” and the material given was weathering steel. 

Competition organized by the “Cultural Association of Entrepreneurs of Northern Greece” and “Friends of the New Coast”. The sponsors were mr. Ioannis Kreonidis and mr. Jack Florentin.

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‘they do not understand that although something encloses a pair of opposite forces, it is actually in harmony with its own self.’ Heraclitus

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‘The limit is not where something ceases, but rather, as the Greeks recognized, the limit is that from where something begins its essencing. It begins out beyond itself as led along the pathways of the fourfold. The nature of finitude is to be related to a world extending beyond oneself, it is to be ‘infinite’. (…)’ 

Martin Heidegger

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    Our syllogism is triggered by the words of Heraclitus, who considers the battle between opposites, as the base on which all things exist. In his words ‘they do not understand that although something encloses a pair of opposite forces, it is actually in harmony with its own self.’

Therefore we realise, that the contrast which distinguishes a pair of opposite forces, doesn’t reflect the opposites themselves, but the ‘genius’, the spirit which grasps them. When this duality is transcended, the material and immaterial nature of the opposing pair appear at the same time as a unique whole.

In his well-known lecture ‘Building Dwelling Thinking’ Martin Heidegger, underlines that ‘The limit is not where something ceases, but rather, as the Greeks recognized, the limit is that from where something begins its essencing. It begins out beyond itself as led along the pathways of the fourfold. The nature of finitude is to be related to a world extending beyond oneself, it is to be ‘infinite’. (…)’

Inspired by the above, we seek for a ‘limit’, who's opposite edges are exceeded, not to be erased but in order to project, through their comparison, the single spirit which permeates them. A ‘limit’ which doesn't separate, but reveals, creates an ‘in-between’ space from two opposite and complementary edges.

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In ancient greek the word όριο (limit) derives from the word όρος (mountain). In its turn, the word όρος (mountain) derives from the verb ερύω which means to pull, to draw or trail. Or it derives from the verb όρ-νυ-μι which means to raise, to stir up, to rush.

Similar to the first interpretation is the word ‘ρυάκι’ (steam), whereas similar to the second interpretation is the word όρος (mountain). On one hand the definition of the word όριο (limit) implies a horizontal dimension of its meaning, and on the other hand a second vertical dimension. Both interpretations imply the mediation of motion or the act of looking.

The limit is not static, but like all living things, it is restless, in constant alter, always exposed to change. This change is always imprinted on it. Time’s patina, erodes the material. First on its front view, the one exposed to the sea, and later on its back view, the one looking towards the city. A first tempo, organizes and defines space. The sea and the shore.

A second tempo is created in space throughout our motion in the garden of sculpture, by the constantly changing gap/empty space between the two vertical parts of the new sculpture. While wandering inside the garden the gap captured by the glimpse of the eye, varies and changes depending on what specific angle it is going to be experienced by chance every a fleeting and unrepeatable moment. It sinks, it disappears, it is full again.

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Thought the invisible engravings of the garden as well as the boundaries of the city outside of it, we are looking for the material sculpture which will unveil the immaterial ‘limit’ of the garden. We are not really looking for the object itself, but of the way in which it will be able to sensitively listen and then to reveal the ‘spirit’ of the specific site.

Matter, material or more precisely weathering steelis the only tool we have in order to sculpt the invisible. 

The limits of the city, of the apartment blocks, thought which human motion passes through, comes into the garden. It is no longer penetrable to human motion, but it is penetrable to the eye gaze. The engravings inside the garden affect the shape of the new sculpture, which is cut according to their angles. In that way a sharp edge is created to turn the eye gaze upwards and outside of the garden.