Stepping into a church is often an encounter with stillness, symmetry, and ritual. In Echoverse, however, Berlin-based artist Tomislav Topić introduces a different kind of reverence—one rooted not in iconography or narrative, but in the visceral power of color itself. Suspended high within the chapel of Les 3 CHA in Châteaugiron, France, his installation transforms sacred architecture into a living optical field, where perception becomes an active, bodily experience.

Composed of hundreds of translucent mesh panels hovering nearly sixteen meters above the ground, Echoverse does not impose itself on the space. Instead, it breathes with it—responding to light, movement, and the restless curiosity of the viewer.

From Abandoned Strings to Optical Revelation

Topić’s artistic language emerged almost accidentally. In 2012, he rediscovered a neglected bundle of strings and ropes from his university years, dormant in his studio for nearly two years. When invited to participate in an urban arts festival, he repurposed this forgotten material into 33,000 Feet, a large-scale installation that marked a turning point in his practice.

It was during this process that Topić encountered the moiré effect—a visual phenomenon created when semi-transparent, repetitive structures overlap, producing patterns the eye struggles to fully resolve. The result is a subtle vibration, a shimmering instability that collapses solid form into visual interference. What fascinated Topić was not illusion for its own sake, but perception itself becoming dynamic—activated rather than passive.

That early work ignited a lasting obsession with what he describes as “optical complexity,” an effect that would come to define his installations.

Mesh as Medium, Perception as Material

While string-based works proved powerful, they were also painstakingly slow to construct. Seeking efficiency without sacrificing visual richness, Topić turned to mesh—a material more commonly found on construction sites than in galleries. Lightweight, fire-resistant, paintable, and globally available, mesh offered both practicality and conceptual clarity.

Crucially, its grid-like structure proved ideal for generating moiré effects at scale. Overlapping layers create fluctuating densities of color and form, shifting continuously as the viewer moves. In Topić’s hands, mesh becomes less a surface than a condition—an interface between light, space, and the human eye.

This adaptability has allowed his installations to travel internationally, responding to each site’s architectural constraints rather than resisting them. Churches, industrial halls, and public spaces become collaborators rather than neutral containers.

Echoverse: A Suspended Spectrum in Sacred Space

In Echoverse, Topić’s long-standing investigation into color reaches a new level of refinement. The installation consists of 451 translucent mesh panels, delicately suspended in vertical layers that stretch upward into the chapel’s vaulted interior. Depending on where one stands, these layers collapse into dense chromatic fields or dissolve into airy gradients.

Natural light plays a decisive role. As sunlight filters through the chapel’s windows, the colors shift—softening, intensifying, or blending into unexpected hues. Morning and afternoon produce entirely different atmospheres, reinforcing the work’s site-specific nature and temporal sensitivity.

Topić rejects symbolism in favor of immediacy. Color, for him, is not a carrier of metaphor but an autonomous force—capable of eliciting emotional and psychological responses without narrative mediation. In Echoverse, color does not illustrate belief; it generates presence.

Color as an International Language

Throughout his practice, Topić has remained steadfast in his conviction that color speaks beyond words. Stripped of figuration and story, his installations invite viewers to confront perception at its most elemental level. The experience is neither purely visual nor purely spatial—it is embodied, unfolding through movement and duration.

In the context of a church, this approach feels particularly resonant. Where religious architecture traditionally directs attention upward toward transcendence, Echoverse offers a different ascent—one guided by shifting hues and optical depth. The sacred is no longer represented; it is sensed.

By suspending color itself as the primary subject, Tomislav Topić creates environments that recalibrate how we see, reminding us that perception is never fixed. It is layered, contingent, and endlessly transformable—much like the luminous mesh that quietly floats above our heads, turning a chapel into a cathedral of light.