Laurent Grasso’s Metaphysical Maze opened at MASS MoCA in the United States with a November 7 programme. Five films share a gallery with painting, sculpture and architectural interventions. Three X-shaped structures alter the visitor’s sightlines, while Cosmic Drive draws on the artist’s research residency and conversations about the origins of life at the SETI Institute.
French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso’s Metaphysical Maze opened with a November 7 programme at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, known as MASS MoCA, in the United States. Guest curator Denise Markonish organized the installation in Building 5, a former industrial space. Five films appear alongside paintings, sculpture and architectural interventions, bringing several forms of the artist’s work into a single gallery.[1], [2]
Three X-shaped structures span the gallery. Architectural elements stand at 45-degree angles to one another, changing sightlines as visitors move between them. The arrangement refers to Sol LeWitt’s geometric wall works in the adjacent gallery. Hammered stainless-steel panels in the windows form Cosmic Mirrors, with painted interventions evoking optical phenomena associated with gravitational lenses. Neon flame and cloud motifs extend from the museum’s exterior into the galleries.[1]
Cosmic Drive developed from Grasso’s residency at California’s SETI Institute, a research organization studying life in extreme environments and beyond Earth. He discussed the origins of life with astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research. The film was shot at the institute and nearby. The installation also includes Studies into the Past, paintings that insert unusual phenomena into forms drawn from historical art.[1]
