Starting from an initial concept, Davide Boriani has developed cycles of artworks over the years and through variations. These series – such as Superficie magnetica, Ipercubo, Ph.Scope – cannot be fully represented by one work, be it the prototype or the optimal result obtained through variations years later.

The series of Ipercubo (Hypercube) was developed between 1961 and 1965, as a result of a number of variations in size and materials. The prototype dates back to 1961. Each variation represents the solution of a technical or perceptual problem, aimed at providing a concrete representation of the concept of dynamic structuring, expressed in 1961.

The 1961 prototype of Ipercubo is composed of five cubes in drawn steel and brass, measuring 87×87×87 cm, painted wood, iron dust, permanent magnet.

The base structure is a a series of five concentric cubes, whose size ratio is 1/√(3): the same ratio between the edge and the diagonal of a cube. Thus, two opposite edges of each cube are hinged to the center of two opposite faces of the larger cube. The number of cubes is not given, and it could hypothetically be increased endlessly. Each cube rotates at a speed rate inversely proportional to its size.

This creates a dynamic structuring, which on one hand tends to an infinitely large cube, rotating at zero speed, that is an infinite and still space. On the other hand, towards the center of this space, the structuring tends to an infinitely small cube, rotating at an infinite fast pace, that is a point: the center of the whole system.

Title
Ipercubo (Hypercube)

Artist
Davide Boriani

Date
1961

Exhibition
Miriorama 11