Tension Arches

Tension Arches is a captivating study in minimalism and rhythm. The piece consists of 12 parallel strips of metal, connecting at the top and reconnecting at the bottom in a repeating pattern. The result is a hypnotic sculpture that feels impossible. The angles are so subtle that it's difficult to fully understand what's happening without running your eyes up and down the complete pattern several times.

Tacha reveals her technique and thought process in her statement "Rhythm as Structure," published a year after the installation of Tension Arches: "Rectangular architecture and urban design have so saturated our vision that we tend to feel disoriented in an environment made of tilting planes or ambiguous curves. If one loses the "measuring rod" of the gravity-defined horizontal and vertical, one tends to mistake approximate horizontals and verticals at right angles to each other for the real thing." With this simple trick of the eye, she is able to unbalance the viewer and create an impossible looking piece of art.

Formerly at City park on East 14th, now on the campus of Cleveland State University, in front of the Music and Communications Building.