Squaring the Circle

Wiesbaden
2023

‘Squaring the Circle’ is a large-scale outdoor sculpture, sited in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Inspired by Edwin Abbott’s satirical novel ‘Flatland’ in which the inhabitants of a two-dimensional world cannot comprehend the existence of three-dimensional objects, the work brings together different geometric forms revealed from two opposing vantage points.
The sculpture assumes irreconcilable forms from these two positions: a circle and a square. The impossibility of grasping the full nature of the object and seeing both ‘states’ at once points towards a possible unity of seemingly antithetical forms.

Spanning almost 4 m in width and height, ‘Squaring the Circle’ presents itself as a large geometric arch. As the viewer moves around the sculpture, its outline seems to morph. From two opposing vantage points its form crystallises into two distinct and apparently irreconcilable geometric shapes, appearing as a perfect circle from one side and a perfect square from the other. ‘Squaring the Circle’ is part of an ongoing series of works in which Troika explore the multiple ways of knowing and understanding the world.

Comissioned by Häusler Contemporary for R+V.

Raiffeisenplatz, Wiesbaden, Germany