Sheila Hicks presents her new work Vers des Horizons Inconnus (2023) at the Parvis de l’Institut de France. The project is a collaboration with galerie frank elbaz (Paris) and Massimo Minini (Brescia), as part of the public programme of Paris+ par Art Basel 2023.

The column erected by Hicks on the square in front of the Institut de France embodies the concept of infinity. Infinity, as a limit, is as indefinable as it is unattainable – infinity as a way of approaching the sky, or infinity as a promise of unexpected discoveries and of exploring the unknown. Just like Constantin Brancusi’s Endless Column (1938), the verticality of Hicks’s sculpture imposingly challenges space by seemingly pushing its boundaries, as if “bursting through the ceiling”, or directly ascending in the hope of reaching an indefinable beyond.

The fibres, made from acrylic combined with mineral pigments from Turkey, once twisted, form threads that create the ensemble. Through a process of added material (rather than subtracted, as is often the case with sculpture) – which also relates to the idea of advancing towards infinity – the column mixes a variety of colours that confer on the whole an alternating character, depending on the viewpoint. In doing so, the work evolves and changes, delivering images and perceptions that also appear to be infinite.

– Frédéric Bonnet