Five Problems is a series of sculptures that relate formally to Vexier (or disentanglement) puzzles, thought to originate in the ‘wisdom games’ of Song Dynasty-era China.
These conundrums, involving freeing and attaching puzzle parts, come in a variety of materials including string, metal and wood with their appeal deriving from their apparent insolvability.
In Five Problems, Austrian artist Eva Grubinger enlarges and reworks such brainteasers, locating them on the floor, walls and ceiling. Being too heavy to manipulate, the ‘problems’ become mental ones, calisthenics for the brain.
