Kwade’s Changed is a grouping of three large “paravents”; combinations of glass, mirrors, and steel that both reflect and tamper with the appearances of the found objects and their facsimiles embedded throughout.

Two nearly identical boulders are positioned in the same manner on either side of a glass wall, insinuating an act of reflection. One is painted brilliantly silver, and the illusion is disrupted as the literal and reflected objects begin to bleed into one another as one moves around the work. This produces not only a hybrid individual form but also an elusive, simultaneous, and yet solely visual reality where both objects exist together.

In this artwork, Kwade presents us with the ability to question our reality, our world, and even the dimension we exist within. Questions are explored such as “What is real? What is not?”.

Alicja Kwade presents her audience with philosophical questions about the essence of reality and attempts to examine, if not resolve, issues of inherently subjective concepts such as space and time. In her sculptures, Kwade occupies herself with the structural properties of everyday objects and questioning the veracity of matter, revealing possibilities for alternate realities, while examining social agreements and supposed truths.

For this writing exercise, consider the following questions and poem:

Imagine you are standing on one side of the sculpture next to one of the rocks, looking into the mirror. Rather than looking at your reflection, you are peering into another dimension.

• Which side of the mirror did you choose? Why?

• What do you see in the mirror? Do you see yourself? In what ways are you the same or different?

• What is your life like in this alternate dimension? How are you perceived or valued?

• What is your environment like?

• How do you imagine this alternate reality? What is different from or similar to our existence?

Shel Silverstein, Reflection

Each time I see the Upside-Down Man

Standing in the water,

I look at him and start to laugh,

Although I shouldn't oughtter.

For maybe in another world

Another time

Another town,

Maybe HE is right side up

And I am upside down.