Vertebra Series: Adolescence
2012 Polypropylene Paper
Artist：Dimension+
To what extent can the maturing gigantic bone-leaves grow?
Vertebrates are the biggest and latest evolved creatures in the world. Having a spinal column as the backbone is one of their major characteristics. The spinal column is composed of vertebrae. The artists adopt paper as the basic material for the creation of the Vertebra series. The flexibility and rigidity of paper allows the artists to create vertebral structures capable of providing stable articulation and simultaneously demonstrating flexible patterns similar to the leaves of plants. The combination of the two properties of paper therefore formulates the mysterious vertebrates that resemble not only animals but also plants.
After the first segment of the spinal column and its extended bone-leaf were created as the basic element of the works, the creation of life has become a combination of order and disorder. During the process of creation, a huge number of weird, ugly, paralyzed, and asymmetric experimental forms were produced. What is actually the perfect prototype for the creature? Through a process resembling the search for rules and methods of toy block combination and creation, the artists formulate a kind of order. After completing an orderly permutation and combination of the vertebrae, the artists continue to excavate or search for new life forms.
What will the new life forms look like? What will be their patterns of movement? What will be the processes of their evolution or mutation? The basic elements formulate a basic prototype that will stretch our imagination. Since the outward articulating parts of the vertebrae are not developed yet, a spinal column will inspire greater imagination of the creature. The situation resembles that only partial fragments of the creature are unearthed. Accordingly, the exhibition of the Vertebra series attempts to assemble the imagination of the creature by envisioning the process of its mutation, its movable spinal column, and its striking figure.
