Circles: shapes with no corners, no beginnings, no ends. Depending on who you ask, they either have no sides or an infinite number of them. This abstraction of such simple geometry presents a unique opportunity for circles as an art form, seen immeasurably in our natural and artificial world. With this in mind, one can find circles, rings, and disks all throughout their surroundings, each with their own context and distinctive meaning.
Such disparity in significance and theme prompted us to classify our circles into the three categories detailed in the Met’s piece on the Kunstkammer: naturalia (objects of natural means), artificialia (manmade items), and scientifica (innovations that forward humanity’s knowledge of the world). We chose to arrange our cabinet beginning with the circles of naturalia, which showcase the round features brought about via nature’s mechanism of evolution. The contrast between the sturdy, protective structures of turtles’ shells and the soft buds of blossoming flowers serves to underline the distinctive variations seen from hidden processes existent from the beginning of life. We then shift focus to the opposite world of artificialia, and admire both the precision (and imprecision) of circles created by mankind, depending on their intended purposes as objects as well as their artistic interpretations. The Lily Pond Fountain offers an amalgamation of the natural and manmade; the fountain device acts upon the water to create ripples throughout the pond, contributing to the calm and quaint atmosphere of the pond. In contrast, the Tire Abstractions offer a more interpretive perspective on the rubber tires that keep us going, displaying the possibilities of what one can become. Lastly, we cast the spotlight on our curated circles of scientifica– that is, those circles that we see in manmade items that serve a greater pragmatic use. These marvels exist as the result of humanity’s desire to understand the unknown and conquer it for the sake of advancement- clocks display the passage of time and put everything in our lives into a temporal perspective, while chandeliers are a stylistic byproduct of the desire to illuminate the darkness. Such variation stemming from the mere common connection of circles provided us with a creative impetus to explore Brooklyn College through the lens of an artist, searching for something that we may find in a multitude of forms.
By Kelly Esses, Quoc-Huy Ly, Paul Mastrokostas, and Bren Tawil
Works Cited:
Koeppe, Wolfram. “Collecting for the Kunstkammer.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum, Oct. 2002, www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kuns/hd_kuns.htm.
