Threshold of Complexity
(2024)Wall text at Kunthal KAdE
Threshold of Complexity is an installation consisting of an elongated drawn network spread across seven black-painted panels, with a total length of seven meters. For this work, Harm van den Berg used a distinctive technique called sgraffito: using an etching needle, he meticulously removes the black paint to reveal a finely woven white web.
The title of the work refers to the point at which components in a network reach a certain level of organization, causing new properties to emerge spontaneously. This can be seen, for example, in flocks of birds forming remarkable shapes in the sky; in ant colonies constructing complex structures; and in the human brain, where consciousness and emotion may arise from an extraordinarily complex neural network.
Van den Berg’s network-like drawings create similar conditions. During the drawing process, new forms emerge spontaneously through the repeated use of minuscule graphic marks. For the artist, this is a way of making visible the dynamics of complex organizational processes that often invisibly underlie reality.
sTOC
(2024 - )An ongoing series of small sgraffito works made with black paint on Dibond, each fitted with a hanging system. All panels are unique and come with a box and a signed certificate.
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
11,5 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm
2025
black paint on Dibond
sgraffito technique
12 x 10 cm