About this Artwork

This work examines contemporary urban transformation through the lens of progress and class relations. The crane and the swing embody two opposing forces of modernity: technical rationality and the fragile body. Skyscrapers function as instruments of power erected to serve the needs of a particular class—an aristocracy. The swinging figure belongs to this class, while the excavation site below carries the invisible costs of progress.

In Goethe’s Faust, modern humanity recognizes no limits in its pursuit of advancement: lands are drained, coastlines redrawn, and both human life and nature are sacrificed. Faust prevails, yet what remains is a silent devastation. The swing becomes the bodily manifestation of this Faustian moment—a brief vibration of what is lost while rising. Two Shores names the structural opposition between center and periphery, promise and cost; the oscillation does not resolve this tension but renders the in-between state visible.