GEOLOGIES OF THE IMPOSSIBLE

A project curated by Plan X Gallery in collaboration with the City of Capri
Courtesy of the artist and Pace Gallery

The Belvedere of Tragara opens toward the horizon — a liminal space where landscape, time, and gaze dissolve into one another. Within this setting, Alicja Kwade intervenes with a gesture that is neither decorative nor functional: three bronze chairs, part of her Carrier and Double Carrier series, are obstructed by blocks of raw stone — archaic matter that dismantles the expected relationship between object and purpose. The stone — unrefined, primordial — interrupts usability. A chair, designed to receive the human body, becomes the bearer of a weight not its own. Nature intrudes upon culture. What remains is a suspended moment between form and resistance — between possibility and assertion. This tension unfolds not only within the object, but in dialogue with its surroundings. The three sculptures echo the Faraglioni, the iconic rock formations off Capri’s coast — as if a mirrored force had shifted elements from the sea to land. In these works, two worlds collide: the geological and the manufactured, the eternal and the designed. Kwade places stone and chair in direct confrontation — mass against function, time against intention. Her practice probes the fractures between perception and reality, between what appears measurable and what resists comprehension. The sculptures do not passively inhabit space — they alter its meaning. They do not invite us to sit, but to think. Geologies of the Impossible thus becomes a reflection on the limits of inhabiting: not just places, but ideas. This is not rest in the traditional sense, but a mental suspension — a stillness charged with weight, material, and relation. The works resist resolution, yet insist on presence.

BIO
Alicja Kwade (Katowice, 1979) lives and works in Berlin. She is considered one of the most influential artists in contemporary sculpture, known for her ability to explore concepts such as time, perception, matter, and reality—often challenging the laws of physics through the use of materials like stone, metal, and mirrors. Her work has been exhibited in major international institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Venice Biennale, and the MIT in Boston. She has also created large-scale public installations in iconic locations such as Place Vendôme in Paris, Central Park in New York, and, more recently, in Hong Kong. She regularly exhibits in museums and foundations across Europe, Asia, and the United States, and is represented by Pace Gallery. Her works are part of prestigious public collections, including the Centre Pompidou, the Smithsonian Institution, and LACMA. Merging scientific inquiry with poetic imagination, her practice continues to redefine how we perceive reality.