1.5 Cărturești Carusel (powered by /SAC)

Free Fall into a Standing Position is Ovidiu Toader’s largest-scale work to date. Taking the form of a falling star suspended in mid-descent, the sculpture captures the transitory moment in which it surrenders to gravity in the form of a controlled free fall, as its body of light (reimagined by the artist as a body of steel) abandons its weight completely. The current presentation of the work captures a moment of suspension within a larger choreographic movement. Like two dancers supporting one another, the form exists in a state where it doesn’t possess an independent center of gravity; each of its parts is held by the weight and balance of the other. This exhibition focuses on that exact point of imponderability, just before the body yields to gravity. The centre of the sculpture incorporates a set of petals on its frontal side, recalling Floarea Reginei (directly translated from Romanian as The Queen’s Flower, and known in English as Edelweiss), the rare alpine flower that still grows on rocky mountain ridges and is protected by law. Renamed Floarea de Colț (directly translated from Romanian as Flower of the cliff) during the communist period, the flower stands as a symbol of endurance in extreme environments. Nestled between these petals stands a rosette that reinterprets the early motif of the Flower of Life, frequently encountered throughout the vernacular landscape and present in the artist’s imagery since childhood. Here, Toader chose to playfully engage with this symbol, imagining what a star belonging to the constellation of the Big Dipper might look like if it were given an earthly body. The current display at Cărturești Carusel marks the first appearance of Free Fall into a Standing Position, illustrating the initial stage of the freefall dancing move, as described by the choreographer Doris Humphrey: the abandonment of weight and the experience of descent. The work is envisioned as part of a broader sequence that unfolds through movement. Future presentations will reveal the second phase implied by the title: the transition into a standing position. In this phase, the energy released during the fall will carry the star’s body upward, returning it to an upright position through a continuous circle of motion and energy. Event powered by /SAC Bucharest and Catinca Tăbăcaru Gallery.