This summer, I’m trying something a little different. Every week, I’ll share one artwork by one artist that has stayed with me. Sometimes it made me laugh or feel something indescribable. Sometimes it challenged what I believed. Sometimes I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it.
These aren’t necessarily the “greatest” works of art. They’re the ones that sparked wonder for me.
I hope these stories help you discover a few artworks that stay with you, too.
Vinyl, each 200cm, installed with 3 or 9 balls
See
Double Dribble, 2010 by Anne Thulin
When Anne Thulin first placed Double Dribble at Wanås, she used nine balls in as many trees. With the artwork, she activates and embraces the surroundings. The enormous red balls seem to defy the laws of gravity and create the perception of movement. The balls at Wanås are made impossible and unusable when they are enlarged or changed, but they simultaneously unlock new possibilities. Play is a central part of Thulin’s oeuvre. “At Wanås […], I want to investigate the relationship between art and play. We test our limits through play, between the controlled and the magically uncontrolled, where the unimaginable can happen. Play lies there on the boundary, as does art,” she comments. Versions of Double Dribble have also been exhibited in other places, such as the Swedish Institute in Paris (2013), House of Sweden in Washington DC (2015), and in Bad Homburg (2019).
Photo by Anders Norrsell, Courtesy: Wanås Foundation
You probably cannot get the true feeling of the magnitude of 'Double Dribble' unless you walk up to the trees holding these 6.5 foot (2m) orbs. Even though I had seen a picture and heard about these red balls before visiting the Wanås Art Park, I still was not prepared for their impact! The color was an exquisite candy apple red and the size was unbelievable. They are wedged up in the branches of VERY tall trees and they still look huge! The make you laugh they are so fun to see.
In her installation Double Dribble, Anne Thulin makes the oversized red balls using a combination of industrial vinyl and textile materials. Each of the enormous balls is inflated to measure approximately 180 cm (~6 feet) in diameter. Thulin strategically places these oversized sculptures directly on the ground, in buildings, or wedges them high up in the branches of trees to create the illusion of suspended movement and defy the laws of gravity. Maybe that's why she called it 'Double Dribble". Just like a double dribble violation stops a play on the basketball court, Thulin "stops" the natural behavior of a ball. She wedges them high up in tree branches making them look simultaneously weightless and completely stuck.
Say
Red balls in the US have strong connotations. Everyone played kick ball and even dodge ball (ouch) in gym as a kid. They get lost, they fly high, they could easily get wedged between branches of a tree.
How would this artwork be percieved differently if the balls were black or another color?
These spheres look like toys left behind by a giant. If this forest belonged to a massive creature, what kind of creature do you think it would be?
Close your eyes and picture one of these massive red spheres jammed into a high tree branch during a heavy rainstorm. Take 30 seconds to mentally map out the sounds—how does the rain sound hitting the leaves versus hitting the tight, industrial vinyl of the ball?
A standard three-seater couch is roughly six feet wide. Imagine taking a couch out of a cozy living room, painting it bright red, and wedging it high up into the branches of an old oak tree. Why might a giant red ball stuck in a tree feel like art, while a couch stuck in a tree might look like the aftermath of a wild storm?
Do
Use you phone camera to forced perspective. Set a ball close to your camera and have someone stand 10-20 feet away. Align them on the horizon.
The Heavy Crush: Position the ball close to the lens so it fills half the screen. Have your friend stand in the background, looking up in terror with their hands up, making it look like a 6-foot boulder is about to roll over them.
The Tree Wedge: Line up the shot so a small tennis ball close to your phone looks like it is perfectly wedged between the branches of a real tree that your friend is standing next to in the distance.
Try wedging an unexpected object somewhere in your house. How does it make you feel?
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About the Artist: Anne Thulin
Anne Thulin, born in 1953 in Lund, is based in New York and Stockholm. In her work she explores the space, creating small objects or monumental site-specific works that change, charge and activate the place they occupy. Space is part of her material and often gives direction to the work. Other important aspects of her work are words and language, and she has used a variety of materials to explore the many and complex meanings they convey.
Yours in wonder,
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This summer, I’m trying something a little different.Every week, I’ll share one artwork by one artist that has stayed with me. Sometimes it made me laugh or feel something indescribable. Sometimes it challenged what I believed. Sometimes I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. These aren’t necessarily the “greatest” works of art. They’re the ones that sparked wonder for me. I hope these stories help you discover a few artworks that stay with you, too. Do you have Pareidolia? "Canface" by...
This summer, I’m trying something a little different.Every week, I’ll share one artwork by one artist that has stayed with me. Sometimes it made me laugh or feel something indescribable. Sometimes it challenged what I believed. Sometimes I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. These aren’t necessarily the “greatest” works of art. They’re the ones that sparked wonder for me. I hope these stories help you discover a few artworks that stay with you, too. Kimiko Nishimori “I just want to do...
This summer, I’m trying something a little different.Every week, I’ll share one artwork by one artist that has stayed with me. Sometimes it made me laugh or feel something indescribable. Sometimes it challenged what I believed. Sometimes I simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. These aren’t necessarily the “greatest” works of art. They’re the ones that sparked wonder for me. I hope these stories help you discover a few artworks that stay with you, too. See Nimbus Palácio de Estoi, 2026,...
