Alicja Kwade, 'Big Be-Hide' (2018)
Alicja Kwade’s Big Be–Hide (2018) is now on view in the sculpture garden adjacent to the National Gallery of Iceland, in front of the Kvennaskólinn, at Fríkirkjuvegur. The outdoor sculpture is part of a series of works in which the artist challenges conventional ways of seeing by utilizing mirrors as optical devices. Playing with notions of hiding and presence, Big Be–Hide comprises two stones – a boulder and the same stone cast in aluminium – separated by a two-sided mirror. Depending on the viewer’s vantage point, the rocks alternately appear to be reflected in a mirror image or seen through the glass, creating an uncanny doubling effect that overlays reality and illusion.
