The Light-Harvesting Complex is the smallest unit of the photosynthetic machinery that converts light and water into organic matter and usable energy in plants, thus providing the basis for life on this planet. The sculpture represents the protein scaffolding of the complex and consists of 850 one-inch pieces of wood. It is displayed, like an altar, on the floor of a small empty room with a candle in the center casting shadows of the structures on the wall. The moving shadows are especially fascinating, because they look very much like plants. It is as if the light-harvesting complex originates flora, but with exchanged roles: The macroscopic plants of our world become ephemeral shadows, whereas the microscopic, and ordinarily not perceivable basis for their existence, becomes a tangible object.

Light-Harvesting Complex (top view), 2003

Wood, particle board and casting resin, diameter 25" (64 cm)