Tension as concept, possesses dual meanings. Within the realms of the physical world, it connotes the opposing forces that act upon, and pull at, fixed points. As a psychological state, it conveys an instance, prolonged or brief, of heightened sensation. For his latest installation, “Tension: Art Basel,” artist Joseph La Piana continues his investigation into the dialectics of tension, exploring and interrogating the forms with which it plays out in our collective embodied experiences.
Comprised of transparent pvc, wrapped around and stretched between volleyball structures located at Ocean Drive & 7th Street in South Beach Miami, “Tension: Art Basel” continues La Piana’s installatory series of tension-based sculptures, “Tension: Red Hook”(2015), “Tension Between” (2018), and “Tension Sculpture Installation: Park Ave,” (2019). For La Piana, the appropriation of the volley ball court serves “to take the existing identity of the environment and subvert its intended function.”
Tension Art Basel Miami