SpY’s chrome steel 'ORB' reflects giza pyramids and ancient egyptian symbology

‘ORB’: a fragmented recollection of ancient egypt

Set against the historic backdrop of the Great Pyramids of Giza, urban designer SpY conceives a large, chrome steel and glass orb, capturing the encompassing vistas and sky in dazzling fragmented reflections. The new installation titled ‘ORB: Under the same Sun’ fuses heritage with contemporary art, drawing on ancient Egyptian culture with its spherical form and specular surface. Echoing elements of classic Egyptian mathematics, symbolism, and notions of creation and rebirth, the artwork explores the distant past to the present, to imagine the future of humanity as part of Art D’Égypte’s group exhibition ‘Forever Is Now II’.

an open air exhibition at the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt | all images by Ruben PBescos

SpY merges ancient heritage with contemporary art

Madrid-based designer SpY creates ‘ORB’ as a four-meter-diameter ball made of chrome steel with reinforced safety glass mirrors. Encapsulating Ancient Egyptian culture, the installation’s rounded shape alludes to the number ‘pi’, concealed in the geometry of the Pyramids, and found when dividing the perimeter of the shape by twice its height. The sphere is further an invisible component of the resulting geometry, with a radius and circumference matching that of a pyramid of a similar size. Moreover, the reflective surface of ‘ORB’ echoes the Pyramids, the sky, and the historic surroundings, recalling the role of the circular mirror in historical Egyptian symbolism where it was linked to the sun and conveyed concepts of rebirth.

SpY designs ‘ORB’ for Art D’Égypte’s ‘Forever is Now II’ exhibition

Art D’Égypte transforms Giza Pyramids into open-air exhibition

Proposing a universal cultural heritage confronted with contemporary artistic practices, ‘Forever is Now II’ transforms the monumental UNESCO World Heritage Site into an open-air exhibition space from October 27 to November 29, 2022. Organized by Culturvator/ Art D’Égypte in collaboration with UNESCO and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the event brings together a dozen contemporary art installations by international artists to the landscape of the Giza Pyramids. Here, SpY’s ‘ORB’ sits alongside works by Emilio Ferro, JR, eL Seed, Jwan Yosef, and more.

a large chrome steel ball at the foot of the Pyramids of Giza

mirrors capture the Pyramids, the sky, and the historic surroundings

the reflective surface recalls the role of the circular mirror in historical Egyptian symbolism

at night, SpY’s ‘ORB’ exudes a warm glow from within

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project info:

name: ORB: Under the same Sun
location: Pyramids of Giza, Cairo, Egypt
designer: SpY

exhibition: Forever Is Now II

director: Nadine Abdel Ghaffar

organizations: Culturvator/ Art D’Égypte, UNESCO, Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions’ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: ravail khan | designboom