Installation view of Atlantes, 2019, by Bosco Sodi, Oaxaca, Mexico. Photography: Sergio López

Artists have long tried to draw a connection between our physical plane and the enigmatic beyond. A new land art work by Bosco Sodi is perhaps among the most ambitious endeavours yet – if not the most colossal. The Mexican artist has erected a 700-tonne ‘city of cubes’ along Oaxaca’s shoreline, adjacent to the Tadao Ando-designed Casa Wabi (the foundation and studio established by Sodi).

长期以来，艺术家们一直试图在我们的物理层和神秘的外界之间画出一种联系。博斯科·索迪(BoscoSodi)的一件新的土地艺术作品也许是迄今为止最雄心勃勃的作品之一-如果不是最宏大的话。这位墨西哥艺术家在瓦哈卡的海岸线上建造了一座重达700吨的“立方体城”，毗邻安多岛设计的卡萨·瓦比(Sodi建立的基金会和工作室)。

Numerical data is by no means a measure of an artwork, though Sodi’s minimalist Atlantes is a pleasing intertwining of art and mathematics. Each of the 64, two sq m cube comprises 1,600 brick ‘timbers’ handmade by Sodi and a team of local craftsmen in a traditional rustic kiln with wood, coconut shells, and jacaranda seeds. There are a total of 102,400 terracotta-hued pieces, fired in 40 batches over nearly 1,000 hours and arranged in a gridded formation.

数字数据绝不是艺术品的衡量标准，尽管索迪的极简主义亚特兰蒂斯(Atlantes)是艺术与数学交织在一起的一种令人愉悦的东西。每块64平方米的立方体由索迪手工制作的1600块砖“木料”和一组当地工匠组成，他们在一个传统的乡土窑里用木头、椰子壳和夹克兰达种子制作。总共有102，400件陶俑，在近1，000小时内分40批发射，排列成网格状。

‘The many points of contact it creates between earth and sky suggests that the heavens are so heavy the weight must be distributed,’ notes Noguchi Museum curator Dakin Hart of the installation. ‘And that human ingenuity can replace divine heroics, but not without great effort.’ Its sheer scale is a spectacle in itself – the rugged Oaxacan landscape notwithstanding – alluding to the Greek myth of Atlas, condemned to hold up the sky for eternity at the ends of the earth.

Noguchi博物馆馆长达金·哈特说：“它在地球和天空之间建立了许多接触点，这表明天空太重了，必须分配重量。”“人类的聪明才智可以取代神圣的英雄主义，但必须付出巨大的努力。”它的巨大规模本身就是一种奇观-尽管有着崎岖的奥萨康景观-暗示着希腊的阿特拉斯神话，注定要在天涯海角永远支撑着天空。

A canvas for the shifting light during the day, Sodi’s perspective-bending pavilion may not prove as immortal as the titular Titan. The structure will weather over time, tracing ‘a sense of the land’s entropy through erosion and the flora and fauna that will eventually dwell in its corridors. Each of the 614,400 brick faces will slowly succumb to the mountains, desert and ocean that frame the artwork; the fate of Atlantes hanging in equilibrium. §

作为白天变幻的光线的画布，索迪的视角弯曲的展馆可能不会像泰坦那样不朽。随着时间的推移，这一结构将天气变化，通过侵蚀和最终将居住在其走廊中的动植物来追踪土地的熵感。614，400块砖面中的每一面都会慢慢地屈服于构成艺术品的山脉、沙漠和海洋；亚特兰蒂斯的命运将处于平衡状态。§