Firmament III

It is not immediately obvious, but there is a figure hiding in this construction. In the center of the sculpture there is a void in the form of a human being in the fetal position, but ten times larger. Despite its size, it remains invisible and negligible in the whole. The empty volume is only visible from above, in bird’s-eye perspective. Antony Gormley invites visitors to fathom the world, always starting from the human figure.

“Firmament” is another word for the dome of the sky and evokes an image of the universe. This work invites reflection on our place in the order of things. Here Gormley reflects on the relationship between the very smallest (the molecule) and the very largest (the universe) and humanity’s place in it.

“Sculpture does not need shelter, either intellectual or physical, and can stand in the elements, encouraging dialogue between human time, the time of the seasons and the time of geology.” Antony Gormley

British contemporary artist Antony Gormley has been exploring the relationship between the human body and the space around it since the 1980s. Complex physical phenomena such as cell structures and DNA play an increasingly important role in his work.