Form 080411

Zbigniew Oksiuta’s works are situated at the interface between art and science. At the core of his experiments lies visionary thinking about habitat, which is derived from socially oriented architectural utopias. Form 080411 is a gelatine balloon made according to the author’s own Spatium Gelatum technology. The artist began to develop the principles of this method in the early 1980s, in the German academic environment.

At that time, Oksiuta’s explorations focused on investigating the rules for shaping liquid and gelatinous objects from biological polymers such as agar or gelatine, aiming to produce organic forms intended to constitute new living environments.[*] Following the mode of approaching architecture in social terms, he termed such polymer constructions the habitat of the future. He pointed out that they were conceived not only as new models for living environments, but also as new human spaces, expanding organisms. The elasticity and extensibility of the material allow the structures to assume large sizes, surpassing the human scale. Thanks to their physical properties, these forms can exist in any space, including in the conditions of weightlessness. Oksiuta’s explorations are an attempt to redefine biological architecture. The classical scheme for its interpretation is the ancient Vitruvian model, according to which the human body is the model for the proportions and plan of a building. Oksiuta takes a different route; he interferes with nature by stimulating its controlled growth. He seeks new materials that would permit living spaces to be not built but, innovatively, to be “grown”.

Form 080411 was created in 2011; the current note was written in 2023. In the course of twelve years, this organic structure was affected by light, humidity and air temperature (with all indications for its conservation being adhered to). After more than a decade, the object has shrunk and changed its shape; chemical and physical processes caused alterations in its colour and transparency. The awareness of the unpredictability of the long-term effect is inherent in all scientific experiments. An utterly utopian, and fascinating, question that arises here is what our everyday life might look like if Oksiuta’s research had produced a structure that would be stable for decades. How would life in a colossal polymer balloon look like?

Izabela Kopania
translated from Polish by Klaudyna Michałowicz
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[1] For a detailed description of this technology, see Z. Oksiuta, Formy, procesy, konsekwencje / Forms, Processes, Consequences, exhibition catalogue, Galeria Arsenał w Białymstoku & Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Białystok 2007, p. 46; see also: https://galeria-arsenal.pl/prace/forma-080411. 

[*] For a detailed description of this technology, see Z. Oksiuta, Formy, procesy, konsekwencje / Forms, Processes, Consequences, exhibition catalogue, Galeria Arsenał w Białymstoku & Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Białystok 2007, p. 46; see also: https://galeria-arsenal.pl/prace/forma-080411. 

The state of neutral buoyancy is a state of relative weightlessness.

In the conditions on Earth, there is a special state of floating in which gravity is not noticeable. Human technologies have not taken advantage of this unusual phenomenon so far. However, neutral buoyancy forms the physical foundations for the development and morphology of organisms that live in water, and is the key achievement of evolution. The density of the bodies of living beings is similar to the density of water; nature takes advantage of an organism’s floating state, particularly in the phase of embryonic growth, and frees it from the impact of gravity.

When we jump into a swimming pool the disrupted surface of the water closes itself above us of its own accord and slowly returns to the initial state – a smooth mirror. If we were able to create a slowly flowing water surface we would fulfil the ancient dream of being able to penetrate walls with our bodies.

Furthermore, if a large floating drop of water had air inside it, it would become a fluid bubble, a space surrounded by liquid, i.e. a fluid habitat. It would be possible to go inside such an interior through a fluid „wall” without opening or closing any doors – the wall would automatically close behind us.

In the conditions on Earth, the „gas – liquid membrane – gas” structure which occurs in a soap bubble is stable and possible only on a specific scale. A fluid bubble of large dimensions is, nevertheless, possible beyond the field of gravitation – in outer space.

On the surface of the Earth, within the field of gravitation, processes that would lead to independent fluid forms on an architectural scale would be possible in other liquids. In practice these processes would be possible under water.

Beyond water, in the atmosphere, independent fluid forms, i.e. droplets, soap bubbles and water bubbles, are possible on a small scale as determined by the ratio of the object’s volume to its surface tensions.

Larger objects can only exist in a gel or coagulated state. A good example is set concrete or glass, ice, a baked loaf of bread, or the forms created using Spatium Gelatum technology.

Pneu and ©Spatium Gelatum
Liquid and congealed membranes

Spatium Gelatum technology studies the rules for forming liquid and gelling objects from biological polymers. Polymers in a liquid state were used in the research. The technology uses the ball bearing principle to rotate the liquid mass in flexible, sphere-shaped forms (plastic spheres and PVC balloons). The sphere-like shape of the forms enables rotation within the liquid.

The pumped up form floats in a pool filled with water whilst the liquid polymer mass is pumped inside it. As the object is rolled on the surface of the water, the liquid polymer inside it is mixed. As it cools the mass converts into gel state, settles on the surface and forms a congealed layer. After this layer has set, air is pumped into the form and the polymeric mass begins to congeal and solidify.

During the drying process the form hardens and changes its shape whilst the amorphous structures and layers on the surface reinforce the construction of the crust.

The goal of the study is to shape biological forms and objects into new habitats. Spatium Gelatum objects are biologically renewable. They can exist in a solid or liquid state, be soft or hard and transparent or coloured, as well as having different smells and flavours.

Excerpts from the book Formy, procesy, konsekwencje / Forms, Processes, Consequences by Zbigniew Oksiuta, Galeria Arsenał, Białystok & Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, Warszawa; Białystok 2007

photo Jan Szewczyk

photo Jan Szewczyk

photo Jan Szewczyk

photo Jan Szewczyk