PROJECT OVERVIEW

Matt Heinzler, operating as FORM LANGUAGE, was commissioned by Phish and 100x to create Chiasma, a site-specific sculptural installation presented as a featured artwork during the four-day Phish Riviera Maya festival in Cancun, Mexico. Produced and curated by Public Art Company, the project translated the concept of the chiasm into spatial lightform.

CONCEPT

Chiasma describes a structural inversion:

-the X shaped crossing of the two optic nerves beneath the brain
-the exchange of genetic material during meiosis
-the rhetorical A-B-B-A reversal that mirrors and intensifies meaning

The sculpture embodied this logic as two tapered, mirrored portals intersecting along a central fulcrum. From an axial view, the form compressed into a flattened X-plane. In motion, depth emerged - patterns transferred, inverted, and reorganized across the two sides in real time.

VISUAL PERFORMANCE

Visuals exchanged between portals, synchronized or in counterpoint, continually reforming the structure through light. The piece relied on no projection. All lighting was embedded within the structure and driven in real time via TouchDesigner, performed live on site by FORM LANGUAGE throughout the festival. Guests could move freely through and around the sculpture without casting shadow.

CONSTRUCTION & SYSTEM

Chiasma extended a stacked timber construction logic developed in prior works. Horizontal members were assembled with load-bearing steel brackets at every intersection - painted matte black and dimensioned to reinforce the concentric taper toward the center.

Each timber element was routed to conceal LED channels. Diffused light emitted inward toward the portals, hidden from direct view, producing an indirect caustic wash across successive members.