Cycles
Spanish artist SpY presents his latest kinetic sculpture, Cycles, recently unveiled in Madrid. Composed of nine metallic rings of varying diameters, the work occupies the exhibition space in a layered, irregular balance. From a distance, the rings appear as if they had fallen from above and, at the very instant of suspension, were frozen into a precarious equilibrium—stacked upon one another, turning in slow, perpetual cycles, like time itself moving forward without a sound.
A quiet gaze at this interdependent geometric structure reveals a choreography of order and flux. Each ring rotates on its own axis, gradually shifting from a perfect circle into an ellipse. In motion, the form expands into fleeting, fluid impressions of curvature. To the moving eye, what first seems like a single form fractures into countless, ever-changing planes, animated by the rhythms of rotation and speed.
Hidden within the base, a concealed mechanism drives the motion, sustaining the delicate equilibrium of the nine rings. Their edges dissolve and reform with every turn, assembling states that are as mutable as they are ephemeral. As viewers shift their steps, illusions of acceleration and deceleration emerge, generating an endless sequence of geometric patterns. In this dialogue between gaze and movement, the sculpture ceases to be a static form, becoming instead a living presence in continuous creation.
For SpY, movement and time are not only conditions but the very materials of the work. Through its dance-like rotation, Cycles unsettles spatial orientation, placing the viewer in a state of perceptual dislocation. Each dissolution and recomposition gives rise to a new form, inviting the audience to witness the sculpture as something constantly remade through flux. SpY encourages us to reconsider the essence of sculpture—not as a fixed object, but as an unfolding process.
