Zilvinas Kempinas has used magnetic videotape in his practice since the early 2000s. He is interested in the way that videotape holds images of the past, but is destined to become obsolete. Columns references classical architectural columns and plays on the contrast between a sense of permanency and the ephemeral materials used by the artist. Kempinas comments:

Columns 2006 takes up an entire architectural space from wall to wall, from floor to ceiling. People are physically inside the piece, so it functions more like an environment rather than a set of objects displayed. It’s a non-kinetic piece that is animated by the viewer’s movement in space — the vertical lines start to optically overlap each other, creating an illusion of rotation, and the viewer’s peripheral vision is involved as well. Despite its monumental size, the piece is light and translucent, meant to be seen through and walked through. 1
1. On Sculpture’ in Sculpture is Everything (ex. cat.), Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, 2012, p.21