The installation CROSSING LIMBO (2019) is another instalment of Marie Lienhard’s LIMBO series that she always develops in situ. The work is made up of pairs of silver magnets held apart by carbon fibre threads anchored in the wall. The threads run across the room and are spanned in such a way as to prevent the magnets from touching, their mutual attraction keeping them in a state of levitation. This is combined with an iron pendulum swinging at right angles to the magnets. The magnets and pendulum are arranged so that the sphere travels along its path above the magnets, causing them to vibrate arrhythmically as a result of the attraction and the precarious balance. The pendulum is activated by electromagnetism, through touch, from outside the window. Two perspectives on the work of art emerge, which are particularly effective when viewed together: Outside, the movement of the pendulum is triggered; inside the room, the effect on the floating magnets can be observed. The viewers make eye contact because they can see each other through the window pane. The swinging pendulum also symbolises their joint reception of the artwork and focuses perception. In this way the artist appropriates the display window situation, creating a dialogue between museum and public space.
(Extract from the catalogue text by Sebastian Schmitt)
