Designing a Functional Sculpture Inspired by Interstellar

There are two things I've been fascinated by for as long as I can remember: art and space.

I've always been drawn to astronomy. I honestly can't think of many space films I haven't watched, and every time I look up at the night sky, I'm reminded of how incredibly small we are.

Oddly enough, that thought is comforting.

Whenever life starts feeling overwhelming, I think about the scale of the universe. Suddenly, deadlines, stress, and everyday problems don't seem nearly as important. It's hard to take yourself too seriously when you're standing on a tiny planet orbiting an average star in one galaxy among billions.

Then there's the other side of it—the mystery.

The idea that somewhere, hundreds or even thousands of light-years away, life might exist right now. The fact that the light we see from distant stars started its journey long before we were born.

Those thoughts never stop amazing me.

Why Interstellar Had Such a Big Influence on Me

When I first watched Interstellar, it completely changed the way I thought about space and time.

The scene on Miller's Planet, where one hour equals seven years on Earth, genuinely blew my mind. What made it even more fascinating was learning that it wasn't just science fiction—it was based on Einstein's theory of relativity.

I've watched the film at least four or five times, and in 2024, during its 10th anniversary IMAX re-release, I finally experienced it on the big screen.

It reminded me why it's still one of my favorite films ever made.

Turning a Movie Into a Functional Sculpture

After watching it again, I started wondering...

Instead of sculpting another astronaut, could I build something people could actually use?

That's where the idea for this sculptural bookshelf came from.

I wanted to create a functional sculpture—a piece that worked as furniture while also telling a story.

Rather than simply displaying an astronaut, I wanted the entire composition to feel suspended in space.

The Meaning Behind the Design

The astronaut floats inside a large circular opening at the center of the bookshelf.

For me, that circle isn't just a design element.

It can be interpreted as a black hole.

A wormhole.

A distortion in space-time.

Or simply the unknown—the place that continues to pull humanity forward.

The astronaut's pose was carefully designed to remove any sense of gravity or orientation. There is no up or down, only the feeling of drifting through something far larger than ourselves.

Why the Books Matter

The books aren't there just because it's a bookshelf.

They're part of the story.

If you've seen Interstellar, you'll probably understand why.

Without giving away too much, the ending transforms a library into something far more meaningful than a room filled with books. It becomes a place where time, memory, knowledge, and human connection exist together.

That idea stayed with me.

In this piece, the books represent knowledge, time, and the stories we leave behind—the things that continue to exist long after we're gone.

Looking Back Three Years Later

This sculpture was designed several years ago and built about three years ago.

Looking at it today, I still love the original idea, but I also see opportunities to improve it.

As artists, that's probably something we'll always feel.

Every project becomes a snapshot of where we were creatively at that moment.

I'm currently working on a completely new version of this concept—one that's cleaner, more refined, and pushes the original idea even further.

I'll share it when it's ready.

Final Thoughts

People often ask where my ideas come from.

Sometimes they come from museums.

Sometimes from nature.

And sometimes they come from a film that refuses to leave your mind.

This bookshelf was never meant to be just another piece of furniture.

It was my way of turning the feeling I get from looking into space into something physical—something people could walk past, interact with, and hopefully stop to think about for a moment.

Because maybe that's what art is really about.

Not giving answers.

But making us look at familiar things from a different perspective.