Can the universe be measured with a simple marker stroke? Since 2007, Slovak artist Roman Ondák has been demonstrating this possibility through a participatory artwork that is as minimalist as it is powerful. Titled "Measuring the Universe," this installation transforms every museum visitor into a discreet co-author of an ephemeral collective mural. The installation invites viewers to reconsider their relationship with time, space, and others.
The concept is deceptively simple: upon arriving at the gallery, visitors are invited to stand against a wall. Using a black marker, a staff member draws a horizontal line at their height, writing their first name and the date next to it. Over hours, days, and weeks, these marks accumulate and form an irregular black band that slowly encircles the museum walls.
A white gallery, a black marker, thousands of first names – this is no longer the artist producing the work, but the public. Without participation, the installation remains an empty wall. With it, the space becomes memory: that of thousands of presences, condensed into an interlacing of lines and names. Art is no longer something to contemplate, but something to embody.
Ondák draws inspiration from a familiar gesture: measuring a child's growth by marking their height on a wall at home. But here, this intimate gesture becomes public. By placing this domestic ritual at the heart of the museum, he blurs the boundaries between art and everyday life, between individual experience and collective narrative.
The creator himself was the first to be measured during installations, notably at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris. Each marking adds to the previous ones in a logic of organic accumulation. Some marks stand out due to their unusual height, while others blend into a black density that has become almost abstract. The work becomes a human landscape, changing and moving.
"Measuring the Universe" questions each person's place in the world. Marking one's height, name, and date is an affirmation: I was here. But among thousands of other inscriptions, this trace becomes anonymous, almost imperceptible. It merges into a whole while remaining unique. This tension between visibility and disappearance evokes the human condition in a constantly changing world.
This project also takes a political look at the role of the museum: a place where order, hierarchy, and contemplation are disrupted by spontaneity, contact, and interaction. Here, museum staff become full participants, and the public is no longer spectators but co-creators.
The installation challenges traditional museum dynamics by transforming the sterile, controlled environment into a living document of human presence. As visitors continue to add their marks, the work evolves into something that cannot be predicted or controlled by the artist. The final result is determined entirely by the collective participation of museum-goers, making each iteration of the installation unique to its location and time period.
The accumulated markings create a visual timeline that speaks to themes of mortality, memory, and human scale. While each individual mark represents a moment of personal assertion – a declaration of existence – the collective mass of markings suggests the overwhelming nature of human experience and the way individual stories become part of larger historical narratives.
Ondák's work has been exhibited in numerous prestigious institutions worldwide, with each installation creating its own unique pattern based on the demographics and visiting patterns of that particular museum. The work continues to evolve as long as the exhibition runs, making it impossible to see the same artwork twice.
This participatory approach reflects broader trends in contemporary art toward dematerialization and social practice, where the experience and process become as important as any physical object. The installation exists only through collective action, disappearing when the exhibition ends but living on in the memories of those who participated.
The simplicity of the gesture – standing against a wall to be measured – taps into universal childhood experiences while creating something entirely new in the context of the art world. It transforms the museum from a space of passive consumption into one of active participation and community creation.
