THE REFLECTED HEXAGON

Lago di Traiano / Rome (I) & Tegel airport / Berlin (D) – 2010

The hexagonal Lago di Traiano (Trajan’s Lake) near Rome was in ancient times the man-made harbor basin of Portus Romae (112 AD). The buildings around the basin were designed like the hexagonal terminal at Tegel Airport (1974) in Berlin. Similar to airport gates, there were numbered pillars on the quay that were allocated to the ships to dock. Both form and function as arrival and departure points for travelers connect these two places from different eras. If you symbolize the port with water and the airport with air, then these are the two elements in which snow crystals form at low temperatures. Simple prisms can be created whose structure resembles the floor plans of Portus and Tegel.

The woven works from PVC tubes containing water taken from the Lago di Traiano.

Video:

The Reflected Hexagon, 2010
9:04 min
(C) Giorgio Cappozzo & Robert Gschwantner
Credits: BMUKK, NÖ Kultur, Land OÖ, ÖKF Berlin, ÖKF Rom

Plan of antique Portus Romae

Plan of antique Portus Romae

Tegel Airport Berlin

Tegel Airport Berlin

Snow crystal

Snow crystal