"Sited close to water, the luminous work takes the form of a circular salt field measuring roughly thirty meters across. The installation registers time through material change. Seawater settles into a shallow plane, and as heat and wind take hold, evaporation thickens the surface. Color intensifies, crystals begin to assemble, and a pale crust develops along the edges. What begins as a calm liquid state gradually compacts into a dense, reflective plane, carrying the imprint of climate and duration."
"Creating the Contingent Object, artist Shaikha Al Mazrou, employs salt as both medium and indicator. The material's responsiveness to environment gives the piece a living quality, shaped daily by light levels, humidity, and shifting temperatures. The ground plane remains precise in geometry, yet its surface resists exact repetition. Fine variations accrue across the circle, producing subtle tonal gradients and textures that register up close before resolving at scale."
A thirty-meter circular salt field sits close to a mangrove- and tidal-influenced coast, where seawater collects in a shallow plane and evaporates. Evaporation, heat, wind, and humidity progressively concentrate salt, deepen color, form crystals, and produce a pale crust along the edges. The work’s precise geometry contrasts with continuously shifting surface textures and tonal gradients, which accumulate subtle variations across the circle. Low, even perimeter and underplane lighting activates after dusk, visually lifting the circle and focusing attention on the illuminated edge to encourage slow movement and extended viewing.
Read at designboom | architecture & design magazine
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