Navid Nuur

A clump of white wax and black plastic lies in a pot on top of an alabaster block. A glowing heater cable hangs just above and slowly melts the wax and plastic: a sculpture takes shape in front of our eyes. In many sculptural practices, the imprint on the material comes from without – the mold, the chisel, the hands – only to remain absent from the final work. Yet in Navid Nuur’s Untitled (2011), the imprint remains present and active, creating a secondary impression of an object whose original shape must be re-imagined.

The exhibition’s title ‘CONDUCTORCONDUCTOR’ suggested that every art work was on a continuous trajectory: gathering new meanings while never quite losing the old ones. A piece of clay in the shape of a half-moon is marked with what seem to be fingerprints, but, in reality, the clay in Untitled (2011) is heated from within and remoulds itself without any human intervention. A neighbouring set of seven wooden blocks – The times that were the times (2011) – was regularly rearranged according to instructions from the artist. Another Untitled (2011) piece occupied the centre of this main room: a capsized chair connected by a thin thread to an empty soup can on the wall. The can floats miraculously in front of the wall, albeit with the help of a hidden magnet.

Other works generated second impressions in a literal sense through a striking use of light. In a dark room, two works – a triangular neon sign and an aquarium filled with water and strings of miniscule lights, both Untitled (2011) – flashed in distinct rhythms to create an eerie atmosphere. The video Study for: The collateral collective unconsciousness of compositions (2011–ongoing) – projected on a glow-in-the-dark panel instead of a regular screen – added another luminescence to this room. We see the artist’s hands folding a white piece of paper, which leaves glowing visual traces of each fold on the panel.

Three larger-scale works were hidden in another unlit space downstairs. Provided with small flashlights, visitors were encouraged to search through the room until they found Untitled (2011): a large glass panel covered in a coat of transluscent paint, which shimmered in a rainbow of colours when hit by the light. The shifting silhouette created by the roaming flashlights added a fourth dimension of time to the piece and an ephemeral trace in the guise of immaterial shadows, which signify both presence and absence.

When doubt turns into destiny (1993–2011) was easier to locate in the downstairs space. -This three-channel video installation shows Nuur’s failed attempts to escape motion sensor lights while walking through a series of courtyards. Outwitting the sensors involves an unintentional but humorous choreography and provided one of the rare moments in the show when the artist seemed to be caught by the work, unable to shepherd it. In general, Nuur adds an awareness of time to spatial models. A gap opens up between the concept behind the work and its particular appearance at any moment. Viewers are left to imagine every piece’s trajectory, past and future.