Infinitely Intersecting Orbits
Charles Goldman
October 2, 2002 – April 15, 2003
Charles Goldman, Infinitely Intersecting Orbits, 2002; 15 poles, each 10' high; steel, rope, rubber, concrete
Artist Statement
Despite Copernicus' discovery that the Earth revolves around the Sun, we, the inhabitants of Earth, continue to believe that the universe revolves around each and every one of us. Regardless of what science has told us since then, we believe ourselves to be the pivotal point in our own private galaxies, the centre of our own orbits. At the onset of the 21st century, globalization gives the appearance that our world is shrinking or, what is more likely, that these individual orbits are expanding. If these orbits never collided, our world would be a perfect one. But here on Earth, just as with the stars in space, collision is inevitable.
As a child, I was obsessed with monsters. I found the clash between them and the humans, which inevitably ended in total mayhem and mass destruction, endlessly fascinating. But whether it was Godzilla, Frankenstein or The Golem, I somehow inherently knew that these monsters were not really evil. I knew that the clash was based on a simple misunderstanding and if we would just make the effort to understand each other, everything would be okay. It was the tragedy that engrossed me.
It wasn't until my teenage years that I began to understand the analogous relationship between the monster movies of the 1950's and The Cold War. And it wasn't long after that that I realized that this symbiotic relationship has always existed and will continue to exist forever. Regardless of your colour or creed, your religious or political affiliation, your musical or artistic tastes - your own, tightly contained orbit threatens the others in its immediate proximity.
Infinitely Intersecting Orbits creates a visual abstraction of this timeless relationship. The orbits, when paired, form an invisible infinity sign. The grid that they are laid out upon extends infinitely in all directions, implying an infinite number of infinities. Whether demarcating squares on a sidewalk, rooms in a building or provinces in a country, each square in each grid is capable of encapsulating an entire universe. Grids, orbits and infinity signs represent certain types of perfection. No matter how each fulcrum point is defined, so many tightly spaced and rapidly spinning universes promise only that these orbits will eventually - one day - collide. In the case of Infinitely Intersecting Orbits, the built-in collisions allude to the fact that failure is an inevitable and indispensable part of perfection.
