Vanitati Carpet

The pattern woven into the carpet maps the density of air traffic during an ordinary Monday morning. Seen from above, the intersecting routes turn the surface into a portrait of constant movement — a familiar image of global connection that also points to the environmental cost of flying.

Beside the carpet, a purpose-built machine folds sheets of paper into planes and repeatedly launches them into the exhibition space. The fragile paper aircraft give physical form to the routes represented on the carpet, transforming abstract traffic data into a continuous mechanical action.

The work has a personal origin. For many years, Alexander Lervik’s fear of flying kept him from travelling, even preventing him from accepting an early opportunity to work in Japan. Therapy later opened the world to him, just as air travel was becoming a symbol of the habits society urgently needs to reconsider. Vanitati holds these two truths together: the enduring dream of flight and the growing awareness that this dream carries consequences.