Andrea Galvani © A Cube, a Sphere, and a Pyramid #5, 2011
Archival pigment print mounted on aluminum dibond
Black wood frame with museum glass
70 x 100 cm / 27.6 x 39.4 inches

A FEW INVISIBLE SCULPTURES

What are we talking about when we talk about sculpture? A Few Invisible Sculptures (2011-2016) calls widely accepted definitions of the discipline into question. Focusing on the instability of matter, this body of work explores complex entanglements between biological, mechanical, and environmental processes. A Few Invisible Sculptures provides a sober and insightful reflection on the function of contemporary sculpture, radically extending its boundaries.  In this trenchant and cerebral project, sculptures migrate from shape to shape, from one material to another, suspended in a metaphysical state. A Few Invisible Sculptures are memories of transition—they physically move through space, from private to public, interior to exterior, expanding and contracting between two and three dimensions. From shifting asymmetries of materiality, volume, form, and function, sculptures are made by their own displacement.

Andrea Galvani © A Cube, a Sphere, and a Pyramid #1, 2011
Ultrasonic audio track, loudspeakers,
 two-part metal speaker stands, amplifier
Installation view at Revolver Galería, Lima
Photo by Daniel Giannoni

Andrea Galvani © 2011
Data analytics of flight and sound patterns from
A Cube, a Sphere, and a Pyramid
Ink on archival paper, white wood frame with museum glass
70 x 100 cm / 27.6 x 39.4 inches

The project began with three sculptures that were constructed and later destroyed for the sound installation A Cube, a Sphere and a Pyramid #1. Over forty microphones were distributed inside a darkened room in an acoustic laboratory at a research institute in Germany. Four different species of bats were then released and recorded as they attempted to visualize their surroundings through echolocation. At various times during a 24-hour period, three geometric sculptures of different measurements and materials—a cube, a sphere, and a pyramid—were physically placed in their field of flight. The animals generated a sonar scan of negative space around the objects: their own unique way of visualizing physical properties, volume, and relative position through different angles and perspectives. Translated to sounds perceptible to human ears, the resulting track is then played back in an immersive installation of ten standing speakers. Three invisible and intangible sculptures stand out in the air, suspended from the ground at a height of approximately three meters. 

Andrea Galvani © A Few Invisible Sculptures #0 [Silver], 2016
Customized 1980 Guzzi V35 Imola
Installation view at Nova | Art Basel Miami Beach 2016
Photo by Julien Gremaud

Andrea Galvani © A Few Invisible Sculptures #0 [Black], 2016
Customized 1978 Guzzi V35 Imola
Installation view at Art Brussels 2018

The fuel tanks of numerous customized motorbikes were replaced by geometric steel sculptures that became containers of energy to produce actions. Exploded view diagrams offer an extended investigation into the separation between objects and volume, interior structure and external form, two and three dimensions of an object moving on the border. The original models were deconstructed, each part restored and reassembled—customized to receive a pyramid sculpture, substituting its original gas tank. Volume was calculated based on geographic territories where drivers were instructed to ride the bikes in a series of performances that took place in Italy, the United States, and Mexico between 2012-2016. Transiting either from one museum space to another, or in a continuous loop around a designated territory, the motorbikes became embodied actions—capable of moving themselves through space across distances physically present in their sculptural dimensions.

Andrea Galvani © 2016
A Few Invisible Sculptures #0 [Front and Back]
C-print on archival paper mounted on aluminum dibond
Gray wood frame with museum glass
158 x 208 cm / 62.2 x 88.9 inches, each

Andrea Galvani © 2016
Exploded view of engineering diagrams used
to construct A Few Invisible Sculptures #0
Ink on archival paper, white wood frame with museum glass
70 x 100 cm / 27.6 x 39.4 inches

Andrea Galvani © 2011
A Few Invisible Sculptures #7 (Structural Study) 
Ink on archival paper, white wood frame with museum glass
70 x 100 cm / 27.6 x 39.4 inches

Andrea Galvani © A Few Invisible Sculptures #1, 2011-2012
C-print mounted on aluminum dibond
Wood frame with museum glass
168 x 220 cm / 66 x 86.6 inches