Torus
Public Art | 2015
Nuit Blanche, Toronto, Canada
Torus is a large-scale floating sculpture that draws from toroidal geometries found in nature: vortexes, whirlpools, magnetic fields, and planetary orbits. Created for Nuit Blanche Toronto, Torus invites viewers to engage with cyclical motion and spatial continuity by walking within a closed-loop form that echoes the fluid environment it inhabits.
Spanning 60 feet in diameter and supported by steel sectional barges, the sculpture was towed into Toronto’s harbor before sunset and moored at a nearby pier. As daylight faded, visitors participated in a collective movement through and around the ringed structure. This circular, processional experience transformed the sculpture into a contemplative site: one that mirrored the rhythms of water, planetary motion, and convergence.
Project Details
- Year: 2015
- Location: Toronto, Canada
- Commissioned by: Nuit Blanche Toronto
- Materials: Steel barges, scaffolding, flotation devices, mooring line, lighting
- Dimensions: Approx. 60 ft diameter
“I was interested in toroidal forms because they’re embedded in the architecture of the universe: tornados, whirlpools, the Earth’s magnetic field. Torus was about inviting people into that geometry, into something continuous. Walking through it at sunset, surrounded by water, the piece became an ephemeral stage for shared movement. It was about the sculpture as form as much as it was about the loop as an experience, a way of sensing interconnection.” —Mattingly
Description
Floating at the threshold of land and water, Torus was both a sculptural form and a spatial proposition. Its geometry—a closed curve turning inward and outward—symbolized planetary systems, natural patterns, and the cyclical structure of time. By staging a public procession through the piece, Mattingly translated abstract cosmological forms into embodied ritual.
This ephemeral installation activated the harbor as a reflective commons. The water’s surface mirrored the sculpture’s ring, making the whole environment part of the artwork. As a temporary structure, Torus invited viewers to meditate on impermanence, gravity, and the shared horizon line between individual motion and collective presence.
Documentation
Impact and Institutional Relevance
- Engaged over 5,000 participants during a single night, Nuit Blanche Toronto
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Merged sculpture, performance, and astronomy in public