©Darrin Vanselow
La Tour en Equilibre is a monumental hardwood sculpture representing a JENGA tower, 5 meters (16.5 feet) tall. JENGA is a game of steady hand and reflection. Players alternate taking turns pulling out a single hardwood block from a sturdy tower and balancing it on the top until, finally, the whole stack crashes down. When it falls, the last player to have skillfully placed the last steady block wins. Skill and strategy are necessary for a balanced tower.
The arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 was a game changer for everyone.
Along with the threatening climate change, we experience difficulty looking ahead towards an uncertain future. As never before, politicians have had to make hard, delicate decisions regarding citizens’ health while trying to maintain society‘s economic well-being. Through this artistic structure, I make a parallel between the JENGA game and the search for equilibrium in our fragile environment. One wrong move by either health or economic measures could be catastrophic. This sculpture personifies the precarious equilibrium. The idea of the game allows us to confront this difficult problem with seeming lightness. The Warnery round-about in Morges sits at a junction where town and countryside converge. This minimal sculpture represents Nature through its material and Urbanism through its form. Morges is well-known for valuing and promoting its green spaces and this junction, heavy in concrete and traffic, merits a work which reflects the natural element, La Tour en équilibre fits in harmoniously.
