Multiplication of forms in contemporary monumental sculpture

2026

2(86)

DOI: 10.37190/arc260209

Published in open access. CC BY-NC license.

Abstract

Public art is an established instrument of urban planning, serving placemaking, the humanisation of space and destination marketing. This article

examines one design strategy within contemporary monumental sculpture: the multiplication of spatial forms, understood as the deliberate replication

of modular compositional elements to achieve aesthetic, perceptual and functional eects. Written from within the practice, it reects on realised pub-

lic commissions by Mirosław Struzik – Dandelions (Dubai, 2017), Bubble Trees in the Clouds (College Station, 2025) and Jellysh Shrub (Taiwan,

2024) – together with two photovoltaic sculpture concepts, Solar Butteries (2012) and Solar Poplars (2022). The analysis situates the strategy at

the intersection of the serial logic of modern sculpture and research on the biophilic appeal of repeated organic form, and identies three operative

mechanisms: the scaling of natural motifs, fractal modular replication, and perceptual multiplication through reective surroundings. The constraints,

reception and risks specic to monumental public commissions are also discussed. The trajectory of the works indicates an evolution from purely

aesthetic applications towards sculptures integrating utilitarian, energy-generating functions.

Key words: public art, monumental sculpture, multiplication of forms, modularity, agrivoltaics, placemaking

Introduction

Art plays an important role in urban planning and ar-

chitectural design processes, and many artists specialise in

creating and realising works for public spaces (CODAworx

2025; Frazier Britt 2014; UNESCO 2024; Polat, Gökçen

2022). The integration of art into urban and architectural

projects – new developments, renovations, green space de-

sign, spatial development plans – is a recognised and stan-

dardised practice in public policies worldwide, implement-

ed through programmes such as “Percent for Art” (Polat,

Gökçen 2022).

Among the objectives pursued through investment in

works of art and the involvement of artists in design pro-

Design philosophy

Mirosław Struzik*, Jakub Skowron**

Multiplication of forms in contemporary monumental sculpture

cesses at early stages, the following should be noted: place-

making, i.e., the creation of a unique character of place, the

building of identity and landmarks, and of natural meeting

points; the humanisation of space, consisting in the trans-

formation of sterile environments into spaces conducive to

social interaction and user well-being (Mikuni et al. 2024;

Trupp et al. 2025); the improvement of the aesthetics of the

surroundings; and the marketing function – the generation

of measurable ROI through tourism, social media and place

branding, where sculptures serve as attractions in destina-

tion marketing strategies (McClimon 2023).

Experience from the realisation of projects in public spaces

across diverse cultural contexts demonstrates that a well-con-

ceived and well-executed sculpture can full these objec-

tives and more, often introducing additional, po sitive and un-

expected eects at the site of installation (CODAworx 2025;

Polat, Gökçen 2022).

One of the signicant phenomena within contemporary

monumental sculpture is the multiplication of spatial forms

* ORCID: 0009-0006-1720-9371. Struzik Art, Ltd., e-mail: ms@

struzik-art.com

** ORCID: 0009-0003-3436-1007. Faculty of Philology, Universi-

ty of Opole, Poland.

104 Mirosław Struzik, Jakub Skowron

– the deliberate replication of modular compositional ele-

ments in order to achieve specic aesthetic, perceptual and

functional eects.

The serial arrangement of repeated modules is not, in it-

self, new to sculpture; it carries a substantial theoretical gene-

alogy. In her account of modern sculpture, Rosalind Krauss

showed how the serial progression of identical, mass-repli-

cable units displaces the traditional hierarchical, centre-fo-

cused composition, denying any single internally dictated

point of focus (Krauss 1977). Her subsequent reading of the

grid identied regulated repetition as a structure that implies

continuation beyond its own boundaries, presenting the vis-

ible work as a fragment of a larger, potentially innite eld

(Krauss 1979). The works discussed here extend this logic

out of the gallery and into public space, where replication

operates at architectural scale. A second and complementary

body of research concerns why such patterns are perceived

as pleasing: studies in the perception of fractal and nature-de-

rived patterns report a consistent aesthetic preference for the

scale-invariant, repeating structures characteristic of natural

forms, and associate exposure to them with measurable re-

ductions in physiological stress (Taylor 2006; Spehar, Taylor

2013). The intersection of these two lines of enquiry – the

serial logic of modern sculpture on one side, the biophilic

appeal of repeated organic form on the other – provides the

conceptual ground for the strategy examined below.

This article presents an analysis of that strategy draw-

ing on the work of Mirosław Struzik, who for over

twenty

years has been realising monumental stainless-steel instal-

lations with RGB lighting for public spaces around the

world. Although written in the third person, it is an account

from within the practice rather than external critical com-

mentary: the works analysed are the author’s own, and the

text sets out the design reasoning behind them. It is oered

as a reection on practice, not as an empirical study; its

method is correspondingly the retrospective analysis of

completed commissions, examining the formal, spatial and

functional decisions that recur across them.

The author

Mirosław Struzik was born in 1956 in Żarów, Poland. In

1989 he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wro-

cław, in the Faculty of Graphics, Painting and Sculpture, spe-

cialising in sculpture, with the degree of Master of Fine Arts.

fore completing his studies, he had already worked for

eight years in design studios, where he was granted seve ral

invention patents; he also studied industrial design. He now

creates sculpture primarily for public space. In 2005 he re-

ceived the Sugarman Foundation Award (USA). In 2020 he

was named one of CODAworx’s “25 Creative Revolutiona ries”

and received a Platinum A’ Design Award in the Arts, Crafts

and Ready-Made Design category for his Bubble Forest.

Design and implementation method

Struzik’s method begins with the direct study of nature,

and specically with the observable structures in the ora of

the surrounding environment, which he documents exten-

sively through macro photography. These observations are

transposed into an organic, abstract idiom and worked up as

scale models. The physical maquettes are then 3D-scanned,

after which development continues in the digital domain: the

resulting models are placed within three-dimensional recon-

structions of the actual sites for which the works are intend-

ed – either supplied by the architects working for the client,

or built from scratch by the artist’s team. Within these site

models, realistic lighting simulations are produced in order

to design the lighting systems and their control programs.

Photorealistic renderings, both still images and video, are

prepared with accurate lighting simulation and discussed

with the client. Only once these are approved does the team

proceed to fabrication, always in coordination with struc-

tural engineers, electronics engineers, lighting spe cialists

and architects. The process is correspondingly com plex, de-

manding the coordination of large, multidiscipli nary teams.

Finished works are shipped to the client in parts – frequent-

ly in forty-foot sea containers – and assembled and installed

on site, either by the STRUZIK ART LTD team or by spe-

cialist workers engaged locally.

Selected realisations

Dandelions – Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab

Emirates, 2017

The Dandelions concept originated in 2013 on the oc-

casion of the realisation of an outdoor sculpture in front of

a corporate client’s headquarters. This work was included on

CODAworx’s TOP 100 public art list for 2013. Subsequent

iterations of the concept gained international recognition,

resulting in a commission from Emaar (2017) for a set of 14

elements complete with lighting and installation services for

the public space adjacent to the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai

(Struzik 2017) (Figs. 1, 2). The sculpture was fabricated and

installed on site by the STRUZIK ART team.

The spatial relationship between sculpture and architec-

ture was based on the principle of contrast harmony: the

linear geometry of the surroundings was juxtaposed with

the curved forms of organic abstraction. The scaling of

plant motifs from the micro to the macro scale produces an

eect of cognitive surprise – a transposition of the observer

into an altered scale of perception. The dandelion head it-

self was generated through serial replication: a single mod-

ule – a seed with its pappus – is repeated to produce the

recognisable form of the whole.

Bubble Trees in the Clouds

– ILCB, Texas A&M University, College Station,

Texas, 2025

The Bubble Trees in the Clouds installation was com-

missioned by Texas A&M University and comprises a steel

sculpture on the terrace of the Interdisciplinary Life Scienc-

es Building (ILCB) together with a wall-mounted installa-

tion inside the building. Both are based on a concept devel-

oped during the creation of the Bubble Forest sculpture of

2019 (Struzik 2019). It is a unique composition in which

the exterior sculpture is complemented by a wall element

visible in the background behind the glazing (Figs. 3–5).

Multiplication of forms in contemporary monumental sculpture 105

Fig. 1. Dandelions, 2017, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, daytime view

(photo by M. Struzik)

Il. 1. Dandelions, 2017, Burj Khalifa, Dubaj, widok dzienny (fot. M. Struzik)

The contrast harmony between the organic morphology

of the sculpture and the simple geometry of the architecture

is here reinforced by the visual reduplication of the form in

the repeated reections across the glass façades surround-

ing the terrace. The same modular repetition governs both

the free-standing terrace sculpture and the graphic element

on the interior wall. In the sculpture it takes the form of

eleven recurring bubble structures, while on the wall the

motif is reproduced in graphic form.

Jellyfish Shrub

– Academia Sinica Campus South,

Tainan, Taiwan, 2024

Jellysh Shrub is a realisation commissioned by Aca de-

mia Sinica, Taiwan’s foremost research institution (Stru-

zik 2024). The project was designed specically for a site

adjacent to a plant biology research centre, where experi-

mental greenhouses and a body of water are situated. The

form of the sculpture references the process of photo-

synthesis and is inspired by the production of oxygen by

plants, including aquatic species. The concept unites art

and science in the context of the biological sciences depart-

ment (Figs. 6–8).

The compositional eect is enhanced by a dynamic RGB

lighting system that transforms the static sculpture into

a dynamic spectacle after sunset. The same modular princi-

ple governs the work – the bubble form recurs throughout

the sculpture – but here it also operates in the relationship

between the installation and its surroundings. This is par-

ticularly evident at night, when the illuminated sculpture is

reected in the glass walls of the surrounding greenhouses

and in the surface of the water.

Photovoltaic sculpture concepts

The combination of art and technology opens up pos-

sibilities for exploring serial composition through sculp-

Fig. 2. Dandelions, 2017,

Burj Khalifa, Dubai,

nighttime view

(photo by M. Struzik)

Il. 2. Dandelions, 2017,

Burj Khalifa, Dubaj,

widok nocny

(fot. M. Struzik)

tures that serve extra-artistic functions. The integration

of photovoltaic cells into the structure of the work creates

modular agrivoltaic installations capable of powering their

own lighting or generating energy for the surrounding area.