Serene in Suspense, 1999
aquaresin, magnets, stainless steel cable, aluminum, lead 180cm x 75 cm x 140cm.
installation: Deitch Projects, Whitney Museum Biennale de Lyon, Mito.
collection: Alvin and Joan Einbender.
The figure is balanced and suspended by a fine line from her navel connected to a pole near the ceiling. The pole counter- balances the figure's weight, allowing it to move vertically. A strong magnet in her head aligns with Earth's magnetic field causing the figure's sex to face south, where the sun is, in the manner of a compass.

«As magnitude of consciousness corresponds to brain mass, brain mass to body mass, and body mass to planet mass - a planet's mass exerts a gravitational restraint on the size to which things can grow, it follows that our level of awareness of the universe derives directly from the Sun-Earth proportions. In fact, we are media of the Sun's self-awareness.» ~ Tom Shannon.

Split Sun, Earth, Moon in Orbit, 1993
sun hemispheres: bronze, Earth sphere: lapis-lazuli, Moon sphere: inox steel Sun: 400 mm dia., Earth: 3.7 mm dia., Moon: 1 mm dia.
edition of 8 commissioned by Les Amis du Musee d'Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris.
The Sun split open revealing Earth at the center and the orbit of the Moon, in proportion to one another.

Earth Glides an Hour (Time Capsule,) 1992
aluminum, magnets 71.5 cm x 7.6 cm dia.
installation: La Box, Bourges
collection: Francis M. Naumann.
The round ends of this sculpture represent Earth; the length represents, proportionally, how far Earth travels along it's orbit in the course of one hour. The lift magnets are installed under the concrete floor.

Decentre Acentre, 1992
aluminum, magnets 400 cm dia., hemispheres: 109 cm dia
permanent Installation: Chateau d'Oiron Collection: Fonds Nationale d'Art Contemporain, France

The suspended disc represents, among other things, a slice from the equator of Earth. The magnetically levitated hemispheres represent the moon in proportion to Earth. From center to center; from a distance, nothing.

Floating Balance, 1998
wood, magnets, steel 105 cm x 152 cm x 70 cm
collection: Leonard Langman.

Earth Moon Centered, 1992
aluminum, magnets 30 cm x112 cm dia.
collection: Youssef Vahabzadeh.
Earth's equator and the Moon in proportion, mounted tangent to the wall.

Planet Plane, 1993
wood, magnets, paint sphere: 12 cm dia. disc: 24 cm diameter
collection: private.
Sphere above a disc whose surface area is equal to that of the sphere.

source: tomshannon.com