Axiom, 1999
Painted steel, aluminium & fibre optic light
Seven units 300 x 250 x 150cm average each, 3200cm height
Installation: Atrium, Commonwealth Law Courts, Melbourne
Photography: John Gollings
Axiom, brochure
Axiom consists of seven structures, each containing twenty nodes and thirty edges, their shape changing in an ascending order. The top structure is surrounded by a circle of fibre optic light that imperceptibly moves through seven colours of the spectrum. Commissioned for the atrium of the new Commonwealth Law Courts, Melbourne, Axiom explores the symbolism of geometric shapes, numbers and colours in the creation of a metaphor for the meaning and application of the law. The need to be appropriate to all cultures is addressed through its use of the universal language of geometry.
The word Axiom means “self-evident truth; established principle; maxim; rule; law”. The work seeks to emphasise “clarity and purity of form to provide a visual metaphor for the process of transformation and change that is both transparent and complex”.