Ning-Hui Chung

Daniel Agdag (born in Melbourne, Australia) is renowned for his intricate cardboard sculptures. Through precise handcrafted architectural and mechanical forms, he examines the intersection of logic, imagination, and human curiosity—transforming fragile materials into poetic machines of thought.

Using cardboard and trace paper, Agdag creates sculptures merging aeronautical and botanical forms—delicate machines that bridge science and fantasy. His precise yet lyrical structures reflect humanity’s desire for creation and discovery, turning paper into a vessel for imagination and thought.

Agdag’s art operates through a “logic of craftsmanship,” where manual precision becomes an act of thinking. His use of cardboard as a mental extension reflects Richard Sennett’s idea that craft is not merely technical labor but a form of intellectual and emotional reflection. Working without blueprints, Agdag’s improvised constructions embody Deleuze’s concept of “form in becoming,” where order and chance coexist.

For my own practice, his approach inspires me to see structure as a mode of thought. He reveals that fragility and precision can cohabit to produce poetic tension. By transforming paper—a material of impermanence—into architecture of stability, he reminds me that emotion and memory can emerge through the subtle gestures of making. This encourages me to treat the manual process as an extension of psychological movement, using repetition and attention to infuse rational forms with feeling—turning my miniature sculptures into spaces where thought and memory breathe together.

#cardboard sculpture #kinetic imagination #architectural form #poetic engineering #structure and fragility #micro architecture #surreal mechanism

Image credit & website:

https://www.messums.org/product/the-2nd-tulip/

https://www.noosaregionalgallery.com.au/exhibition/daniel-agdag-miscellaneous-assemblies/

Written on: 12 October 2025