Brief: Design & Build Monumental Artwork
Location: Marsa, Malta
Status: Complete [2020]
Photography: I+A | Infrastructure Malta | Babanov Photography
Sema draws reference from the idea of the sky as a provider of resources—a sort of deity that listens. It is inspired by the movement of a flying flag, with geometry that resembles an oversized cloth caught in freely moving air, accompanied by a ring of light suggestive of a setting sun. The resultant form is clad in hinged plastic tiles that are driven by the wind.
This passive-kinetic sculpture comprises 1300kg of stainless-steel plates and 700 iridescent acrylic plates, standing over four metres tall. The imposing stature of Sema represents the sky as a celestial deity, casting energy and air in their freest and cleanest form. It is shaped by the movement of a flag rippling in the wind, animated by air and set against the backdrop of a sunset-like ring of light.