Tensegrity

Six fluorescent tubes – each 5 metres long – float precariously above the ground in the Grolée district. Even though there's nothing connecting them to each other (or so it appears), the tubes defy gravity. This installation by Jean-Pierre David takes a novel look at the idea of tensegrity, where air pressure alone holds the different parts of a structure together under tension. The neon lamps glow, quiver and crackle. The light flicks between yellow, red and orange, turning off with a rumble before coming back on again in a bluish flash. The triumphant finale sees the beautiful white light eventually reappear. The laborious business of switching on neon lights has always amused Jean-Pierre, and here he recounts the history of these notorious illuminated tubes in his own idiosyncratic manner.