Cycles N2
In 2025, Spanish artist SpY presented the kinetic sculpture CYCLES in Madrid, Spain. Composed of nine horizontal rings of varying radii stacked one above another, the work is driven by a mechanism concealed within its base. As the rings rotate about their respective axes, their changing alignments give visible form to time and flow. In 2026, SpY developed the idea further in CYCLES N2, a suspended kinetic installation commissioned by NUR Festival and presented at the Air Park, part of URAM Extreme Park in Kazan, Russia. Fifteen rings move vertically through the space, each functioning as an autonomous unit within a choreographed system of movement, light and sound. Rising and descending at different rhythms, they form a shifting geometric array. Moving in concert, the rings take on the cadence of a breathing organism, while their collective form continually changes.
To understand SpY’s shift from rotation about fixed axes to vertical movement, it is useful first to consider the kinetic language that underpins his practice. The Spanish artist has long explored the interplay of space, time, movement and perception. He also treats art as a medium through which people engage with public space, drawing attention to the environments they inhabit and prompting them to reconsider their relationship with their surroundings. In CYCLES, the concealed base mechanism produces motion that reads as regular, cyclical and predictable. CYCLES N2, by contrast, shifts control to the individual rings, creating the impression of a collective sequence that is more variable and less readily anticipated. Time no longer appears as a closed cycle; it unfolds instead as a more open process, marked by uncertainty and possibility.
By treating the volume of the venue as part of the sculpture, CYCLES N2 takes on an architectural dimension. As the fifteen rings rise, descend and overlap, they continually alter the perceived depth of the venue and the geometry seen from one position to the next. The installation becomes a moving spatial field that engages the body directly. When the monumental rings descend overhead, draw closer and then recede, a low, resonant soundscape and shifting light make the encounter physical as well as visual. Even while standing still, the viewer becomes acutely aware of scale, proximity and movement.
The surrounding darkness suppresses much of the venue’s visual noise, heightening bodily awareness. Red light traces the rings and spills across the curved ramps, lending the space an almost ceremonial atmosphere. As the light shifts, the venue seems to breathe. The contrast between black and red, together with the rings’ vertical movement, unsettles the viewer’s sense of orientation, ceiling height and spatial boundaries. Light travels around the circumference of each ring, revealing fleeting configurations that alter how the space is read. With each shift, the apparent dimensions of the venue expand and contract, changing the viewer’s sense of distance and scale.
