(in between parentheses
In October 2001, while I was trying to create a cubic nephele, in the Visual Arts Research Centre of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T), I came upon the silica aerogel for the first time… It is a space technology material, intangible -consisting of 99,9% air and 0.1% glass – which has been recently used by N.A.S.A for the collection of stardust. Its ethereal beauty and its optical properties – similar to those of heaven- have entirely paired with my years – long artistic quest for an omniabsence.
I was looking for a cloud and I found heaven ...
With their transparent and weightless composition, aer()sculptures break down the limits of Euclidean geometry and open up the way to representative space of Poincaré and Picasso. They become a bridge between what is real and what is true, demonstrating the fine-woven celestial world as the only source of the sense of light. Incarnation and dematerialization, presence and absence, nano & giga are some of the pairs of concepts that go along with each reading of the aer()sculptures.
closing parentheses)*
Dr. Ioannis MICHALOU(di)S, Visual Artist
*This text was written for the catalogue by MICHALOU(di)S for his solo exhibition aer()sculptures at the N. P. Goulandris Foundation – Museum of Cycladic Art that opened in October 2006