Squaring the circle is an intellectual challenge at which even the ancient Greek mathematicians did not succeed. No circle was ever squared and it was proven to be mathematically impossible. On a macro scale “squaring the circle” is a reflection on the course of events on our globe and how mankind tries to go ahead amidst the imperfection and chaos in the world.

Mark Swysen was simultaneously invited for 2 exhibition projects in the Brussels-Capital Region: at the FeliXart Museum and the Basilica, where the Museum of Modern Religious Art (MMRK) resides. Mark designed the mobile sculpture “squaring the circle” as an opening performance. The artist and the art director together cycled the more than 10 kilometres distance separating the two museums. The unsuspecting public along the voyage was fascinated by the apparent impossibility of a spherically-shaped bicycle for two, somehow moving forward while the riders pedal in conflicting opposite directions.

In sculptural terms the bicycles wage a conflict in movement within the limits of a spherical world defined by a transparent, vulnerable plastic boundary. In the props supporting the aluminium structure, one can read the meridians crossing the earth’s surface. The choice for this work was incited by its apparent accessibility – an important aspect of art shown in the public space – and its internal contradiction. The artist hopes that – after an initial smile or surprise – the viewer will exert the effort to seek for the underlying meaning.