clinamen

White porcelain bowls drift across three circular pools at Onassis Mandra in Athens. As they meet, their edges produce delicate sounds, forming a changing composition within Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s installation clinamen.

First developed in 1997, the work takes its title from the unpredictable deviation of atoms described in Epicurean philosophy. This outdoor presentation allows the surrounding weather to enter the composition, with rain adding another sound to the bowls’ movements. Set within a historic open-air theater, the installation gives visitors a place to pause and listen to a work whose arrangement changes from moment to moment.