Capturing or quantifying the concept of infinity is frequently the subject of works of art. Gallery ZAK BRANICKA in Berlin has made it the focus of its upcoming group show “The Admirable Number Pi” featuring the works of several generations of artists devoted to encapsulating the fleeting concept.Leaders of the conceptual movements of the 1960s and 70s including Jan Dibbets, Stanisław Dróżdż, KwieKulik, Mario Merz, and Ryszard Wasko will be shown alongside artists of a younger generation including Vlatka Horvat, Marlena Kudlicka, and Szymon Kobylarz in a presentation of mixed media works.The title of the show draws its name from a poem by Polish Nobel laureate Wisława Szymborska, who extrapolates upon infinity using the mathematical concept of Pi.“(...)The pageant of digits comprising the number Pidoesn’t stop at the page’s edge.It goes on across the table, through the air,over a wall, a leaf, a bird’s nest, clouds, straight into the sky,through all the bottomless, bloated heavens.(...)”Like Szymborska’s poem, the artists in the exhibition take a stab at the ephemeral concept. Stanisław Dróżdż attempts to quantity the transitory nature of time in “Date of my Birthday” (1975) by putting numbers after the date 15.05.1939 which eventually loses its original intention and becomes a metaphor for the infinity of time.Vlatka Horvat quite literally aims to measure infinity with a sculpture of old-fashioned rulers stacked on top of each other to form the symbol for infinity, the sideways “8.” Titled “For Infinite Distances” (2011) the work narrates the struggle of measuring the concept, with every counted centimeter leading farther from the goal of quantification.Other highlights of the show include John Dibbets’ “Sea Horizon” (1973) that plays with perspective and reality in measuring the concept, Ryszard Wasko’s “Hypothetical Checkpoint Charlie” (1988) that deconstructs the iconic Cold War crossing point between East and West Berlin to the point where it becomes an assortment of straight lines, and Mario Merz’ “Igloo” (1970) that draws on his fascination with the Fibonacci sequence.Through words, sculpture, photography, and numbers, the artists represented in “The Admirable Number Pi” attempt to show the unquantifiable infinite through their work. And perhaps, for a fleeting moment, they succeed in accomplishing this.“The Admirable Number Pi” is on view from June 27 – September 12, 2015
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