In Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, various realms of emotion and thought are materialized in the form of landscapes and metropolis. The worlds Calvino writes weave in and out of themselves, refract and reflect, are both endless and finite. I was immediately reminded of the work of dutch artist MC Escher and his infamously perplexing and tantalizing images of cities and living spaces.
In 2019, Japanese design studio Nendo collaborated with Escher’s work to produce Between Two Worlds, an installation drawing upon Escher’s themes and transplanting them into physical, immersive experience. The exhibit showed at the National Gallery of Victoria.
What is most striking about the installations is their subtly and focus on one particular element of his work. It strays away from the gaudy, “commercialized” versions of Escher that we have come to know and distills his work into more intimate ideas and details.
DSGN 264-402 | Fall 2020 